This book is a very dark canvas, but it is precisely that darkness that makes the rays of light that shine through it all the more mystical and beautiful.
This book is a Gnostic mass in fiction form.
Contrary to the typical religious view, that this is my Father's world gone wrong, Hugo takes the position that this world is an evil place of darkness and suffering.
This is not my Fathers world at all.
It is essentially the Gnostic view. That human souls are sparks of divine light, temporarily trapped in an evil place. Those who oppress and torment the weak and the poor are simply soulless props, exercising and strengthening those sparks of divine light that are, for the moment, in their orbit.
Dea and Gwynplaine are kindred spirits who cannot be separated, but will continually find each other no matter what the odds.
B.E. Maxwell, author of The Faerie Door, a Gnostic fable for children of all ages.
(Harcourt Houghton Mifflin 2008)
