The Novices Tale, Margaret Frazer
The Novices Tale, Margaret Frazer
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

The Novice's Tale

Author: Margaret Frazer

Narrator: Susan Duerden

Unabridged: 7 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/28/2020


Synopsis

UNHOLY PASSIONS AND DEMONIC DEATHS . . .

In the fair autumn of Our Lord's grace 1431, the nuns of England's St. Frideswide's prepare for the simply ceremonies in which the saintly novice Thomasine will take her holy vows. But their quiet lives of beauty and prayer are thrown into chaos by the merciless arrival of Lady Ermentrude Fenner and her retinue of lusty men, sinful women, and baying hounds. The hard-drinking dowager even keeps a pet monkey for her amusement. She demands wine, a feast . . .

And her niece, the angelic Thomasine.

The lady desires to enrich herself and her reputation by arranging a marriage for the devout novice. She cares nothing for the panic and despair she leaves behind her.

But all her cruel and cunning schemes are brought to a sudden end with strange and most unnatural murder.

As suspicious eyes turn on the pious Thomasine, it falls to Sister Frevisse, hosteler of the priory and amateur detective, to unravel the webs of unholy passion and dark intrigue that entangle the novice and prove her innocence . . . or condemn her.

About Margaret Frazer

Margaret Frazer was a finalist for an Edgar Award for Best Original Paperback for both The Servant's Tale and The Prioress's Tale. The Sister Frevisse series includes The Novice's Tale, The Servant's Tale, The Outlaw's Tale, The Bishop's Tale, The Boy's Tale, The Murderer's Tale, The Prioress's Tale, The Maiden's Tale, The Reeve's Tale, and The Squire's Tale. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.


Reviews

Goodreads review by C. (Comment, never msg). on July 19, 2024

* I put work into reviews and comments are a reward. They are much nicer than an empty ‘like button’, please and thank you. * I enjoyed everyone, the special 1431 setting, and originality of "The Novice's Tale". The characters who greet us aren't surly nuns barking at the trainee. They are loyal, des......more

Goodreads review by Pooja on December 15, 2021

When Lady Ermentrude comes to the St Frideswide convent to try and collect her niece, the novice Thomasine, pretty much no one is happy to see her. But apparently someone is unhappy enough to poison her and lay the blame on Thomasine. This is an enjoyable historical mystery steeped in the rhythms of......more

Goodreads review by Marysia on January 10, 2024

Source: Borrowed from the library via Libby ebook Content warnings: animal death, detailed descriptions of poison symptoms I like reading about the medieval period and monasteries/convents. They always feel like a cozy setting to me, which probably all started with the Redwall series which I read in......more

Goodreads review by Dennis on January 25, 2014

The coziest of cozies, since it's set in a cloistered convent, yet this book manages to touch on Chaucer, Henry VI, the laws of entail and of marriage. It also introduces an unique detective, Dame Frevisse, the hosteler (guest accommodator) at the convent of St. Frideswide's, who is good not because......more

Goodreads review by Hannah on April 17, 2017

A neat, tidy little historical mystery. I loved Sister Frevisse and Dame Claire and will definitely be reading more of this series!......more