For my NSS partner from their wishlist.

Amazon Synopsis

The cloistered walls of Shrewsbury Abbey have always protected Brother Cadfael from the raging Civil War. But when fighting escalates between Empress Maud and King Stephen, the war takes a deadly step closer to him. Taken prisoner in the battle for Maud's land is Olivier de Bretagne, Brother Cadfael's own son- born as a result of a brief encouter thirty years earlier. Now Brother Cadfael resolves to plead for his son's release at a peace conference scheduled to take place in Coventry; but there is no sign of Olivier there. After much soul searching, Cadfael makes the difficult decision to break his monastic vows, leaving Coventry without permission- because he knows he must do everything in his power to find his son.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

sending to my NSS partner

ENJOY!

Thanks very much for this Abediv. I've been working my way through this series and my local library service didn't have this one. And of course, big thanks for the Divine choccie too, yum! Happy valentine's Day!

And here it is, the last journal entry for the Cadfael series. I've found some of the books better than others, and this is one of the ones I enjoyed more. It's been rally interesting to learn as bit more about this period of history as I'd never even been aware of Empress Maud before I began reading these. I plan to pass this on as a RABCK.

Caught at BC Meet-up. Thank you!

Quite a departure from the normal Cadfael. Almost all of the action takes place outside of Shrewsbury and a lot of it from the POVs other than Cadfael's. Though there is, somewhere in there, a murder to solve, it's done as an afterthought and is not the main plot of the story.
It's good if you like a change from the old formula, not if that's what you like and expect.
Either way, I enjoyed the added detail and character of Stephen and Maud, seeing as they are so important through the whole series but almost always manoeuvring in the background.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

BC Meet-up.