Overview

What defense is there to superstition? It's 1582, a time when books are banned, and witches live next door. Citizens of the European principality of Salm are free to pray the way they want. However, both Catholic and Protestant fanatics surrounding them believe theirs is the only truth. Everyone is a heretic to one side or the other. Martin, an accused seditionist, seeks safety in Salm, and he teaches Nicolas, the mayor's son, to read. Though Nicolas knows Martin's books are banned, he cannot resist them. Catherine Cathillon and her family live in isolation as her father's mistrust of the church prevents her from joining the community. A chance meeting with Nicolas changes everything. He reads to Catherine, and when she learns what life is like outside their farm, she begs him to teach her to read. But class differences force them to meet in secret. During the lessons, they fall in love, but their romance is exposed, and spurned lovers swear revenge. Lovelorn vengeance is one thing, but when one of the banned books is found in Nicolas's shop, Catherine realizes that her father was right. Their true enemy is the man charged with saving their souls, and he will stop at nothing to reinforce his position of power. Based on real people and events, genealogist Juliette Godot draws upon her own Renaissance-era family to bring you her award-winning debut novel From the Drop of Heaven.

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9781620069493

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Brushed onto a historical canvas, this riveting novel explores themes that have colored women's lives throughout the generations. What we grappled with in our distant past has poignancy in today's world. A beautifully rendered story that will capture your imagination.-Fiona Quinn, USA Today Best-Selling Author For lovers of rich, immersive history wrapped in a captivating and heartbreaking story, this book grabs hold from the very beginning and refuses to release until the very last word. Juliette Godot is a master storyteller, taking her own astounding family history and offering the reader a beautifully crafted tale worthy of ten stars!-D. K. Marley, historical fiction author of Blood and Ink, and the CEO of The Historical Fiction Company From the Drop of Heaven is an absorbing and unsettling story of the struggles of a close-knit family in the dangerous world of late 16th century France - a world beset by simmering grudges and petty jealousies, disease and ignorance, superstition and religious intolerance.-Catherine Meyrick, historical fiction author of Forsaking All Other, The Bridled Tongue, and Cold Blows the Wind. In From the Drop of Heaven Juliette Godot has woven a masterpiece of texture and color in historically depicting the life and times of France in the late sixteenth century when Protestants and Catholics see little but evil in one another. As families strive to maintain peace, they must bow to the powers of the State and the Catholic and Protestant hierarchies. Lies are easily spread, and the innocent can find themselves at the mercy of the courts for offenses they never committed. Such is the fate of two families the de la Goutte de Paradis and the Cathillon in Salm and the Duchy of Lorraine. This is both a moving and inspiring tale.-Celia Martin, The Hayward/D'Arcy 17th century historical adventure romance series. From the Drop of Heaven begins as an unlikely love story between a peasant girl and a mayor's son in the late 1500s. As Godot spins their tale, she vividly portrays the horrors of the time: religious conflicts, outbreaks of plague, and accusations of witchcraft-and makes us understand the heavy price paid by those who dare follow their own truth.-Ruth Hull Chatlien, author of The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte

Author Information

Juliette Godot is a former software engineer at Carnegie Mellon University, but her passion is genealogy. After cataloguing over 40,000 ancestors, she wanted to know more than just names on the family tree. The quest to find her roots led her down the back roads of France to the unsung principality of Salm where superstitions were part of everyday life. The myths and legends of the Renaissance and the grit of the people steadfast in faith as war surrounded them enveloped Juliette. Writing about it was the only way she could get it out of her mind. Juliette's debut novel, From the Drop of Heaven, has won the 2021 Gold Medal in the Royal Palm Literary Awards for unpublished historical fiction. Connect with her online. JulietteGodot.com, Twitter: @JulietteGodot, Facebook: JulietteGodot

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