First Line Fridays #41: Loving Luther by Allison Pittman

Since Reformation day has just gone by, I thought the subject matter of this book seemed Apt. If I had not already read Fawkes by Nadine Brandes I would share that in honor of the upcoming Guy Fawkes night.
I requested this novel on Netgalley shortly after it was released, but like some other titles on there its been waiting over a year and I've not yet got around to reading it. I need to now.
 

Now, I am going to admit, I don't know an awful lot about Katherine von Bora, the former nun who became wife of Martin Luther.
I am a child of English Reformation, so I'm more familiar with the stories of Anne Boleyn, William Tyndale, Jane Grey and Thomas Cranmer, Henry VIII and Bloody Mary then Luther, Calvin or other European reformers.

 I did read another novel about the relationship between Luther and Katherine/Katherina, but I was not very impressed with it, and you know what I'm like. I try to avoid 'learning'  history from Fiction, so I would have to seek out a non-fiction title for that.

In the dark of night, Katharina von Bora says the bravest good-bye a six-year-old can muster and walks away as the heavy convent gate closes behind her.

Though the cold walls offer no comfort, Katharina soon finds herself calling the convent her home. God, her father. This, her life. She takes her vows--a choice more practical than pious--but in time, a seed of discontent is planted by the smuggled writings of a rebellious excommunicated priest named Martin Luther. Their message? That Katharina is subject to God, and no one else. Could the Lord truly desire more for her than this life of servitude?

In her first true step of faith, Katharina leaves the only life she has ever known. But the freedom she has craved comes with a price, and she finds she has traded one life of isolation for another. Without the security of the convent walls or a family of her own, Katharina must trust in both the God who saved her and the man who paved a way for rescue. Luther's friends are quick to offer shelter, but Katharina longs for all Luther has promised: a home, a husband, perhaps even the chance to fall in love

The First Line Reads: 

 "My father always told me if I never took a sip of wine, I’d never shed a single tear" 

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