I just finished a 'historical novel' titled "Confessions of a Pagan Nun", by Kate Horsley. This is a story about a woman who grew up in Ireland during the late 5th and early 6th century, at the time when Christianity was beginning to displace the older pagan customs. The story tells how Gwynneve is raised according to the beliefs of her ancestors, and the conflicts she experiences as she gradually comes into contact with those claiming to represent the Christian faith. I thought that the author portrayed the older pagan ways and the new Christian beliefs fairly, not all positive or all negative, but kind of a mixture. The book also shows how some of the methods of "conversion" used by the early Church were not always gentle, and that the quality of life for converted population was not always improved, but in many ways, significantly decreased.
The book is well written, and I found myself reading it at night until I was too tired to keep my eyes open. As novels go, it is relatively short, less than 200 pages, but they are very absorbing pages.
gaiagirl