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Cargando... The Novice's Talepor Margaret Frazer, Mary Monica Pulver
Books Read in 2016 (2,760) Historical Fiction (772) Monastic life (13) » 1 más Reliably Good Series (17) Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. As much a fan as I am of Peter Tremayne's Sister Fidelma series, I think it has met its match with Frazer's Sister Frevisse. Frazer's sense for character development is obvious at the outset, and she manages to create a colorful cast of characters who are not caricatures. Pious Thomasine becomes a murder suspect when her aunt Lady Ermentrude--who I pictured like the Red Queen from Alice and Wonderland--succumbs to her own "strange and sudden death" (that's from the back cover, so I'm not counting it as a spoiler!). There is also Dame Claire, the herbalist and someone who deserves a large bit of credit, as does the entire convent of St. Frideswide, and their leader Domina Edith. One of the contrasts with Tremayne's series is that Sister Frevisse, while a major player, is not the only player. Granted, given the fifteenth-century setting and the Benedictine context, Frazer has less to explain than Tremayne with his seventh-century tensions between the Roman and Irish churches. Those who like fast-moving plots may be a bit frustrated here, but Frazer does an artful job of making everything matter! Take your time with this one--enjoy each and every character as they are all important here and there. Quite a great first book in the series--I'll be reading the rest! ( ) I love this series. Sister Frevisse, the protagonist, is a nun in a small convent in medieval England. She loves the religious life and it is central to her identity. She is also unusually educated, and related to some powerful people, which is how she gets involved in intrigue and mystery. The rhythm of the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours) governs her days when she is at home in the convent, and to a lesser extent when she is out visiting. Because she is educated, she understands the Latin in which the psalms are sung, and we get both the Latin and the English as she reflects on her prayers. The year is 1431 and the nuns of St. Frideside get an unwelcome visit from a rude, unpleasant woman, Lady Ermentrude. The novice, Thomasine, is close to taking her holy orders, something she has always wanted. She is related to Lady Ermentrude who brings a lot of people, dogs and a monkey. During her visit, she suddenly leaves to go to Thomasine's sister Lady Isobel and her husband Lord John. Ermentrude leaves in a temper and apparently went to Isobel and John in a temper and had a big fight with them. She seems very drunk when she returns and insists that Thomasine will leave and marry. Then while taking care of Ermentrude who collapses, one of the cooks eats and drinks what was for Ermentrude and dies badly. Ermentrude seems to recover and then collapses and dies. Her son wants the easy answer and blames Thomasine. It is up to Dame Frevisse to find the truth. Frevisse is related to Thomas Chaucer, a relationship that helps her when the son is ready to grab her up and hold her prisoner. I like this series. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
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It is the year of Our Lord's grace 1431, and the nuns of England's St. Frideswide sweetly chant their Paternosters behind gracious, trellised walls. But their quiet lives are shattered by the unwelcome visit of the hard-drinking, blaspheming dowager Lady Ermentrude, with her retinue of lusty maids and men, baying hounds, and even a pet monkey in tow. The lady demands wine, a feast, and her niece, the frail and saintly novice Thomasine. What she gets is her own strange and sudden death. Sister Frevisse, hosteler of the priory and amateur sleuth, fears murder. The most likely suspect is pious Thomasine . . . but Frevisse alone detects a clever web spun to entangle an innocent nun in the most unholy of passions--and the deadliest of deeds. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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