Act of Faith is a book about books, about freedom, and about friendship. It’s an adventure story set in an era when ideas were dangerous and many books were banned:
when an educated young woman was not only unusual but sometimes feared.
A novel for young adults, it traces the story of Isabella Hawkins as she travels across Europe in search of a place where writers are free to publish, women are able to work,
and people are free to dream.
Publisher blurb: A story of faith, intrigue and adventure in 17th-century Europe. Ages 14+
When ideas were dangerous, one girl found the courage to act. England, 1640. Sixteen-year-old Isabella is forced to flee her home when her father's radical ideas lead him into a suicidal stand against Oliver Cromwell's army. taking refuge in Amsterdam and desperate to find a means to survive, Isabella finds work with an elderly printer, Master de Aquila, and his enigmatic young assistant, Willem. When Master de Aquila travels to Venice to find a publisher brave enough to print his daring new book, Isabella accompanies him and discovers a world of possibility - where women work alongside men as equal partners, and where books and beliefs are treasured. But in a continent torn apart by religious intolerance, constant danger lurks for those who don't watch their words. And when the agents of the Spanish Inquisition kidnap de Aquila to stop him printing his book, Isabella and Willem become reluctant allies in a daring chase across Europe to rescue him from certain death.
Act of Faith was published in 2011 but it is still available. Here is an interview with the author about the inspiration for her book. You can read a sample of this book on the publisher page. This timeline will help you identify the major historical events that link to the setting of this book. Here are some very detailed teachers notes and discussion questions.
Read this review for a very detailed account of the plot.
Awards
- Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Australian Book 2012.
- Highly commended, Australian Society of Authors’ Barbara Jefferis Awards 2012
- Shortlist, 2012 Gold Inky Award
- Shortlist, Ethel Turner Prize, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.
The cover of this book caught my eye as I was assisting with a library stocktake (inventory) in a local school. This is not really a book for readers in a Primary School - it will better suit Young Adult readers aged 13+ mainly because it covers a complex period of world history around 1640; the print is very small; and there are some graphic details of executions.
Here is the sequel from 2013
Bookseller blurb for The Sultan's Eyes: It’s 1648, and Isabella has made a home for herself in Venice, safe from the clutches of the Inquisition. She, her friend Willem, and their mentor, the irascible Signora Contarini, work together as printers and publishers. Their publishing house is famous throughout Europe for one title: The Sum of All Knowledge, a revolutionary book of history and philosophy that has brought them - yet again - to the attention of the authorities. Then Isabella’s nemesis, Fra Clement, is appointed Inquisitor in Venice, and vows to stamp out heretical printing. Isabella knows she will no longer be safe in the city, and, guided by their learned cartographer Al-Qasim, the three friends make their escape to the one place they feel sure Fra Clement will never follow: the fabled city of Constantinople, now ruled by the Ottoman Empire.
They are greeted as esteemed guests, in a city where beautiful books are still written and illustrated by hand, and mechanised printing is frowned upon. Isabella and Signora Contarini are welcomed into the royal household, ruled by the all-powerful Queen Mother, Kösem, in the name of her grandson, the child-Sultan Mehmet IV, who lives in the Palace’s legendary Golden Cage. Isabella quickly becomes friends with the boy king and his elder sister and acts as Mehmet’s eyes: she reads to him and teaches them both the languages of antiquity and of Europe. Engrossed in her duties, she doesn’t at first notice that Willem is besotted with a young slave girl called Suraiya - or that Signora Contarini and Al-Qasim are involved in an underground movement to bring the printing press to the Ottoman Empire. And none of them notice the mysterious foreigners who follow their every move. For the famous Sultanate of Women is far from serene. Court politics and an impending war with Europe place Isabella and her friends in danger - from forces within the Golden Cage, and beyond.
Adult readers who enjoyed The Dictionary of Lost Words might also enjoy Act of Faith.
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