A Moment of Faith by Martin Svaneborg
First published independently in June 2021. Republished by Kingsley Publishers on the 25th March 2022.
How I got this book: Received a review copy via Rachel's Random Resources
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Copenhagen, 1840 – Fighting to reconcile his obligations with a quest for romance, the eccentric philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, rushes through the cobbled streets, thrusting himself into the arms of Regine and a disastrous engagement.
Copenhagen, 1855 – Withering away in a hospital bed, Bitter and alone, Kierkegaard conjures up a preposterous scheme. A vendetta against the Bishop of Copenhagen, and a mission to save the future of love.
Copenhagen, now – Introvert Christian Kardahl, meets devout and mysterious Emma for the first time. Two days later, Christian comes across an old letter aimed to destroy a famous, eccentric philosopher. When a sudden murder is added to the mystery, the past has caught up. Christian and Emma are drawn into an involuntary quest that will make them question their belief in history and, unless they can sort out the puzzle, their faith and love will be forever doomed.
A Moment of Faith is a religiously themed dual-timeline thriller which I very much enjoyed immersing myself in. Its narrator, appropriately named Christian has a dry sense of humour which often chimed with my own and I loved his italicised thoughts, shared only with us readers. The novel, while being very much its own story, does give nods to The Da Vinci Code and I think would appeal greatly to readers who appreciated that tale. The historic Sogade church makes for a beautifully enigmatic early location from which the breathtakingly paced adventure starts. Despite its fast pace, A Moment of Faith never felt rushed and the connections between each timeline were deftly plotted to give a really satisfying conclusion. I'm only not sure about the epilogue, but that aside, I was happily entertained by A Moment of Faith and am now keen to read its sequel when that book appears in due course.
With a background in musical theatre as both an actor, singer, and dancer, Martin Svaneborg has spent his teenage and adult life as a storyteller. In 2018, driven mainly by his interest in the history of religion, Martin started studying theology at the University of Copenhagen while exploring other ways of telling stories as a theatre director, speech coach, and speaker, hence the transition to novel writing felt natural, and his debut novel is a fusion of his growing interest for the personal life of the philosophers he encountered during his studies and the desire to tell an adventurous love story. Also, he, like Kierkegaard, has a thing for nice, long sentences
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