The GLBTRT has been reviewing books and movies in its newsletter since the early 1990s. Trace the evolution of queer publishing through these historic reviews. This review was originally published in Vol. 4, No. 2, Summer 1992.

The Blessed. By Nona Caspers. Silverleaf Press, 1991. Paper. $9.95. (ISBN 0-941121-04-6)

This novel is two separate stories told in alternating chapters. The larger part is the first person story of Magda, kidnapped and held prisoner in a basement by a middle aged woman she names Mrs. Savior, a not-so-motherly character with two holsters, one carrying a gun and the other a Bible. In the first chapter, she shoots Magda’s big toe off for tying to tum off the TV tuned permanently to an evangelist station. Later, she makes her eat soap because she said that the Apostles probably had crushes on Jesus. Mrs. Savior apparently intends to cure Magda’s open lesbianism by converting her, but Magda is totally cynical: ”Religion is a business. Anyone with a cerebrum knows that. .. ” The other story is the diary of a college freshman, Karen, over the course of a semester in 1986. Karen is a rather ordinary, sheltered, introspective, studious and increasingly unhappy person who finally manages to kiss her best friend and roommate, Amy.

Magda’s tale is beautifully told, as her imprisonment allows her lots of time to reminisce, hallucinate and devise ruses to escape Mrs. Savior. Caspers expertly captures the religious zealot, as well as the mind of the prisoner deprived of any sane contact.

Of course, the two takes intersect, and that is part of the problem: the connection between college student Karen and prisoner Magda is not revealed until the very end. In the meantime, this reader was more frustrated than mystified by their relation. Maybe I’m dense, but I didn’t figure out how the stories intertwined until the author finally spelled it out. Was I supposed to figure it out before then? It would have made much more sense of the story, especially Karen’s rather mundane, schoolgirlish ramblings about dorm life. But then, I can never guess the killer in “Murder, She Wrote” either.

This novel is about much more than religion. Readers will enjoy it for its vivid characters and energetic writing. Libraries should purchase where there’s a need for good, serious fiction in which lesbian identity is not central to the story.

Reviewed by Kathy Ruffle
College of New Caledonia Library
Prince George, B.C.