Review
From the book jacket: It is late summer in the year 1270 and England is as weary as its
aging king, Henry III. Although the Simon de Montfort rebellion is over, the
smell of death still hangs like smoke over the land. Even in the small priory of
Tyndal on the remote East Anglian coast, the monks and nuns of the Order of
Fontevraud long for a return to tranquil routine. Their hopes are dashed,
however, when the young and inexperienced Eleanor of Wynethorpe is appointed
their new prioress over someone of their own choosing. Nor are Eleanor's own
prayers for a peaceful transition answered. Only a day after her arrival, a
brutally murdered monk is found in the cloister gardens, and Brother Thomas, a
young priest with a troubled past, arrives to bring her a more personal grief.
Now she must not only struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and
resentful flock but also...
Beyond the Book
From the Author's Foreword:
Although Tyndal Priory and its inhabitants never existed, the Order
of Fontevraud most certainly did. It was a very powerful religious
institution from its founding at the turn of the twelfth century by
Robert d’Arbrissel until shortly after the French Revolution. Like
the Order of the Paraclete (once headed by Heloise, whose
correspondence with her husband, Peter Abelard, is one of the
treasures of medieval literature), Fontevraud was one of the rare
Orders of double houses where a woman was in charge of both male and
female monastics......
.......Regarding the status of women in my...
