![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In which I get hung up on worldbuilding
Mar. 5th, 2021 07:37 pmI'm so confused by the worldbuilding in the book I'm currently reading. I'm reading it for my book club; it is Alix E. Harrow's The Once and Future Witches, set in fantasy New England in 1893. The main worldbuilding premise is: witchcraft exists, and is persecuted (also there are suffragettes).
There is casual mention of saints, priests, nuns and monks in a way that implies that Catholicism is the dominant religion. My first theory about this was that the Reformation never happened in this world, but that doesn't hold water, because there's an off-hand mention of a Quaker. My next theory was that perhaps most of the Catholics in England were driven to emigrate to America, instead of the Protestant Dissenters? But that doesn't work, because there's mention of the Georgian Inquisition, implying that England's government is Catholic in the 18th century. (And by the way, the term "Georgian Inquisition" is not a great idea, because the reason the Georges were on the throne in the first place is to make sure the monarch was a Protestant.) So I suppose my theory is now that the Reformation happened, but was unsuccessful in England and the country remained Catholic, with a minority of Protestant movements like the Quakers.
I probably was not meant to think so much about this (and I might not have if I was more gripped by the book in general), but I can't help it! It's unclear to me why the author chose to make Catholicism the dominant religion. I hope it's not because they thought that Protestants did not persecute witches? Surely not. But why, then? I really can't see any connection at all to what's going on in the story. Is this just very random worldbuilding? Will it all make sense later in the book? Am I too picky about worldbuilding?
There is casual mention of saints, priests, nuns and monks in a way that implies that Catholicism is the dominant religion. My first theory about this was that the Reformation never happened in this world, but that doesn't hold water, because there's an off-hand mention of a Quaker. My next theory was that perhaps most of the Catholics in England were driven to emigrate to America, instead of the Protestant Dissenters? But that doesn't work, because there's mention of the Georgian Inquisition, implying that England's government is Catholic in the 18th century. (And by the way, the term "Georgian Inquisition" is not a great idea, because the reason the Georges were on the throne in the first place is to make sure the monarch was a Protestant.) So I suppose my theory is now that the Reformation happened, but was unsuccessful in England and the country remained Catholic, with a minority of Protestant movements like the Quakers.
I probably was not meant to think so much about this (and I might not have if I was more gripped by the book in general), but I can't help it! It's unclear to me why the author chose to make Catholicism the dominant religion. I hope it's not because they thought that Protestants did not persecute witches? Surely not. But why, then? I really can't see any connection at all to what's going on in the story. Is this just very random worldbuilding? Will it all make sense later in the book? Am I too picky about worldbuilding?
