Product Description

Medieval Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael leaves Shrewsbury to rescue his thirty-year-old secret son, who has been taken prisoner in the Civil War between Empress Maud and her cousin, King Stephen. Reprint. K. PW.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #481725 in Books
• Published on: 1996-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In Brother Cadfael's 20th chronicle, Peters deftly binds the medieval monk's new adventure with family ties, moving from issues intensely public to problems determinedly private. Olivier de Bretagne, who (unknown to himself) is Brother Cadfael's son, has been taken prisoner during England's dynastic war between two grandchildren of William the Conqueror. Cadfael is determined to find Olivier, although to do so he must leave the monastery without his abbot's "leave or... blessing." The search begins badly when, at an unsuccessful peace conference, Yves Hugonin, Olivier's hot-headed brother-in-law, picks a fight with Brien de Soulis, a commander who may know where Olivier is held-but won't say. When Brien is found murdered, Yves is abducted by one who holds him responsible for the killing, and then Cadfael has two men to find. In the process, he delicately explores puzzles related to Brien's death and to shadowy deeds in the larger political scene. While Cadfael does his usual excellent sleuthing, Peters succeeds at an equally subtle game, demonstrating how personal devotion can turn to enmity-and how such enmity can be forestalled by justice and mercy. Mystery Guild selection.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Peters's last Brother Cadfael mystery, The Holy Thief (Mysterious Pr., 1993), sold nearly a third more than its predecessor, so Peters is clearly on a roll. In his 20th outing, Brother Cadfael decides to break his monastic vows in order to save his long-lost son.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Peters' twentieth tale in her popular Brother Cadfael series has the gentle monk leaving his cloister on a journey that will prove both dangerous and wrenching. In twelfth-century Britain, a rebellion has arisen, with factional fighting between the knights supporting Empress Maud and those swearing allegiance to her cousin Stephen. Philip FitzRobert, a traitor to the empress, has taken 30 hostages, among them a young man named Olivier de Bretagne, who is Cadfael's son from a chance encounter years earlier. Although Cadfael has lost track of the boy's mother, he's never forgotten his son, and once he finds out that Olivier has been spirited away and imprisoned, nothing--not even his vow of obedience to God and the abbot--can keep him from setting out to find the young man who has never known his true father. The quest becomes fraught with peril when Yves, Olivier's brother-in-law, is falsely accused of murder, and only Brother Cadfael can save him. Peters' graceful writing perfectly captures the spirit and ambience of early Britain. Intelligently written, the story is moving and suspenseful, with the intrepid and valiant Cadfael at his wise and gentle best. Emily Melton

Customer Reviews

a splendid ending to Cadfael's legacy!
This final installment of the mysteries of Brother Cadfael finds Ellis Peters in outstanding form- what prose this Englishwoman conjures! Of all the Cadfael mysteries, this is one of the finest! The writing is typically adroit - wise, full and redeeming, and the passages found toward the last third of the book, describing the interior heart of Brother Cadfael towards Olivier, his 'unknown' son, are as beautifully trenchant as anything one will find in popular prose writing. In this series of books, the mysteries themselves are always well-placed and fascinating, authentic and without tricks, but again, it is the superlative writing of Ellis Peters, the warmth of the language and the architecture of its comeliness, that captivates; indeed, she has permanently raised the genre of mystery novel to a new plateau of genuine literary interest. P.D. James, eat your heart out! All 20 Cadfael mysteries highly recommended - an addiction to treasure!

Ellis Peters, always excellent
Alas and alack! There will be no more Brother Cadfael mysteries. Ellis Peters is gone, but she has left a rich estate for all her readers, especially in the well-known Brother Cadfael series.

Cadfael's conflict in the book is between his monastic vows and what he perceives to be his natural duties as a father. His son Olivier has been captured and none know where he is. Cadfael looks for Olivier though he knows the search may cost him his home in Shrewesbury Abbey.

Later parts of the book deal with the issue that an honorable man may do that which seems most dishonorable if it helps end a destructive war.

Ellis Peter's characters are far more realistic and human than most. They are sympathetic, mostly good characters torn by events, doing wrong in reaction to being trapped in unpitying reality. Her characters are consistent and believable with a few possible exceptions. Olivier, for example, seems all perfection -- yet is this not how his loving father would see him?

As a whole, the Cadfael series is an excellent blend of plot, character, and setting. Brother Cadfael's Penance, the last written in the series, is one of the best. The insights are richer and deeper, the characters more engaging, the conflicts of a bigger yet always very human scale.

Cadfael's conflict.
Witness if you will, reader, the Chronicles of one Brother Cadfael of the Benedictine abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul in Shrewsbury, Shropshire: witness the twenty adventures of this most unusual monk, herbalist and former crusader, occurring between the years of Our Lord 1138 and 1145, in the middle of the devastating civil war between Empress Maud and King Stephen for the English crown. Witness, reader, how this rare Benedictine's "practically miraculous" powers of deduction (Booklist) helped him solve mysteries such as that of the unfortunate violent death of a Welsh lord who sought to prevent the relocation of the sacred bones of his village's maiden saint to no other place but Shrewsbury's very own Benedictine abbey ("A Morbid Taste for Bones," the first Chronicle); the long-held secrets hidden under the rags worn by one of the unfortunate residents of Shrewsbury's leper colony, and that ill-fated soul's connection to a fair young bride come to Shrewsbury to be wedded at St. Peter and St. Paul, only to find her groom - himself a brute in a gentleman's clothes - murdered only shortly after their arrival ("The Leper of St. Giles," the fifth Chronicle); and a woman's earthly remains, found in a field bequeathed to the abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul by a potter who, struggling between the callings of a husband and those of a servant of the Lord, had relinquished his marital vows in favor of those to the church ("The Potter's Field," the seventeenth Chronicle).

Pause however, reader, before proceeding to this twentieth and last Chronicle, if you are not familiar with all accounts of Brother Cadfael's previous extraordinary ventures. Pause, I say, and seek out the Chronicle entitled "The Virgin in the Ice," which is the sixth in order and takes place in the winter of the year 1139. For in that report you shall encounter not only certain persons important to the events you must expect to learn about in this last Chronicle, duly referred to as "Brother Cadfael's Penance," but you shall also learn about certain details about Brother Cadfael's past, and the life he led among the defenders and the residents of the Holy Land in the year 1112. And while it is true that the essence of said facts, insofar as indispensable to the telling of this present and final Chronicle, will again be revealed to you as you progress through this present account, trust me if I tell you, reader, that your enjoyment and understanding of this final Chronicle will be greatly enhanced by having acquainted yourself with the full revelation of said facts, events and personae, as encountered in said prior Chronicle. At the very least, reader, accept my humble suggestion that you seek out the visual representation of said prior Chronicle, equally referred to as "The Virgin in the Ice," which is part of the most excellent productions also entitled "The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael," created in the past century's last decade.

Thus prepared, proceed then to this last Chronicle, which takes place in the year 1145, when a conference was held in the great city of Coventry, presided over by none other than the mighty archbishops of Coventry, Winchester and Ely, to bring an end to England's bitter civil war. And Brother Cadfael is in attendance; not, however, because he has been called upon to lend his services to the cause of diplomacy, which regrettably is a foregone conclusion between enemies as deeply opposed as Maud and Stephen, but to make inquiries about a certain young knight named Olivier de Bretagne. For said knight, of Syrian extraction and near and dear to Cadfael's heart, has been captured in a struggle following his noble lord's fiat to abandon their allegiance to the empress and join the king's forces instead, and he is now held without any offer of ransom, which is unheard of in the customs of war. And while Cadfael sojourns in Coventry, a haughty nobleman, who has played a most dubitable role in the change of allegiance of the forces of his and Olivier's liege, is found murdered, by none other than Olivier's brother-in-law, Yves Hugonin; himself barely out of a boy's clothes and now a liensman of the empress, and readily declared the crime's chief suspect. Thus facing the unfortunate concurrence of two duties of worldly allegiance - to locate Olivier and to clear Yves's good name - Cadfael must realize that those worldly duties irreconcilably collide with that owed to his monastic community. For he is bound to his abbot not to stay away from Shrewsbury for longer than is necessary to attend the truce conference, after the end of which he is to return to the abbey instantly, or break his vows; and unable to complete either of said two worldly duties in time to comply with that owed to his abbot, break his vows he feels he must. Yet, it is with a heavy heart that Cadfael does so, and casts himself out of the Benedictine community which has been his home and family for over twenty years, to follow a calling stronger than even that of the Holy Church; thus opening the conflicts of his heart to you, reader, more than he has ever done before.

"Brother Cadfael sprang to life suddenly and unexpectedly when he was already approaching sixty, mature, experienced, fully armed and seventeen years tonsured," his chronicler Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) wrote in a 1988 introduction to the 1979 short story collection "A Rare Benedictine," set in 1120 and compiled after the success of the first Chronicle to shed light on Cadfael's entry into monastic life. Would that she had had more time on this earth to bring us further accounts of his adventures! Sadly, this was not to be the case. But as things stand, she could not have left us with a better conclusion to his exploits. Rest in peace therefore, Mistress, and may you have many pleasant conversations with Brother Cadfael, wherever you have encountered him since!

Also recommended:
A Rare Benedictine
A Morbid Taste for Bones: The First Chronicle of Brother Cadfael
One Corpse Too Many: The Second Chronicle of Brother Cadfael
Monk's Hood: The Third Chronicle of Brother Cadfael
Leper of Saint Giles (Brother Cadfael Mysteries)
The Virgin in the Ice (Brother Cadfael Mysteries)
The Cadfael Collection
A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury