When I take the time to consider what I read in E.L. Noel’s DANTE’S CROSS, one familiar adage springs to the forefront of my thoughts: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” If I had been a consumer, rather than a reviewer, I would have committed this cardinal sin and thus missed out on a truly epic tale of valour. The only thing the book’s cover offers is a name by which this tale of the Crusades can be distinguished from the rest. What I can offer, having read all 177 pages, is my personal assessment that DANTE’S CROSS is literature as literature is meant to be. It is adventure, romance, philosophy -- all the joys and tragedies of life’s losses and gains, sorrows and hopes.
The question now, for this particular writer, is whether or not my own literary skills can rise to meet E.L. Noel on the mountaintop of literature’s peak. As reviewer, can I rise to the challenge and convey Dante’s story as Noel has done so as author? Such is the same charge propelling Dante beyond his role of knight into that of hero – and even legend.
The story begins on the field of battle. Dante and his most trusted friend Iago (the friend who sticks closer than a brother) are Spaniards in the service of the English king, Richard the Lionhearted. They are in the medieval land of Palestine, assailing the Muslim-held fortress St. Jean d’Acre.
When the fortress falls, the lives of the Muslim inhabitants now lay hostage to King Richard’s mercy. Included within this group is Asad bin Saleh, a childhood friend of Dante’s, and his sister, Sakeena, the woman Dante has always loved. If the Sultan of Syria fails to deliver on the promised ransom for their lives, Richard will issue the order to have them killed – an order Dante and Iago, as knights in the king’s service, will be expected to carry out.
Here resides the first level of suspense the reader will face. What course of action does Dante take? If Richard issues the order, can he defy a king’s edict (an action which would forfeit his own life), or will he allow his love Sakeena to die in a horrific massacre of defenseless innocents? If Asad had ushered Sakeena away when escape was still possible (something he berates his friend for) her safety would have been assured; but, as Asad knows, Sakeena would have been bound into a marriage she did not want (for the honor of the family name) and of which Dante, as a Christian who would not adhere to the Muslim holy book, could never take part.
The absolute marvel of Noel’s penmanship in deftly rendering this story is that you can never know. You can never tell. Not until it actually happens is the reality of Dante’s circumstances ever revealed. The spontaneity of every moment is genuine.
The same truth can be applied in the familial conflicts Dante faces between his brothers. His older brother, Casado, is a warrior in the most brutish sense of the term. The sibling rivalry between the two is as hostile as can ever exist between two brothers. He must fend off Casado’s desire to draw their younger brother, Xavier, into the battle, while trying to dissuade Xavier, recognizing the artistic soul he possesses, and realizing the stain the ravaging slaughter of war would inflict. Xavier wishes to join in the fight, following his brothers’ lead in honoring the family name; but he lacks the maturity to see what Dante sees.
How can Dante save his love, and save his younger brother, and honor his family name, without losing his own life? Or can he?
Such is merely the beginning…
These first few chapters lead the reader – alongside Dante and Iago -- into the company of a capitalistic slaver, a fortress overrun with barbarians, a search for treasure, the hunt for a witch, the zealotry of a priest, and the wrath of a king. To say anything more is to risk spoiling the suspense which happens at every turn of the page.
Suffice it to say, along with said suspense, Noel also creates individual characters, each with their own voice and temperament. For example, take some of the dialogue she places within Dante’s thoughts. When surveying the dilemma Richard faced while awaiting the ransom for the Muslim hostages’ lives, he sees a reality for that area of the world that still resonates as truth today.
“Even Richard could not win here. Only God could work the miracle of victory, and He had chosen to withhold His hand.”
Later, when he is attempting to dissuade Xavier from opting for the warrior’s life versus his true calling as that of an artist, he says to his younger brother:
“You posses the ability to offer beauty to those about you, rather than hurt. Do so, for God’s sake! Waste not your life by rendering death.”
Nothing is clichéd. Everything stands alone as a brilliant work of prose akin to any of the classics. All lovers of great of literature should know of this masterpiece that weaves the honor of the knight, with the responsibility due family, into the love for a woman, through the cultural milieu of warring religions, at the pursuit for truth, with the hands of brotherly friendship at one’s side. DANTE’S CROSS is a burden to bear and a triumph in which all can rejoice.
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