Brother Cadfael’s Penance

Brother Cadfael’s Penance (1994) Ellis Peters (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #20)

Set in England in 1145.

This is the third time I have read this series through, but the first time I read Brother Cadfael’s Penance, the final book in the series (there is an anthology of short stories I still have to read). I have this weird thing about not wanting to finish series, which it’s taken my almost nine years to finish this one.

The problem is that this series was my bedtime reading, since cozy mysteries are good for that. Except, I hadn’t read this book before, so I didn’t know what was going to happen, so it was a terrible bedtime book.

The backdrop of this series is the Anarchy, or the war between Empress Maud (Matilda, Daughter of Henry I & mother of Henry Plantagenet/Henry II) and Stephen of Blois (1138 and 1153), and like One Corpse Too Many, that war is front and center in this book.

The voices of cold reason were talking, as usual, to deaf ears.

Stephen’s faction has taken prisoners, including Olivier de Bretagne, who is unaccounted for. Cadfael gets leave to go to Coventry with Hugh where he can seek where Olivier is being held, but Cadfeal is to return with Hugh after.

When Cadfael learns of Olivier’s location, he breaks his obedience and sets out in search of both Olivier and Yves Hugonin (The Virgin in the Ice) who has been accused of murder.

Both Maud and Stephen are in this story, and although we have heard tell of their flaws throughout the series, we see those flaws in action here.

‘No!’ said the empress sharply. ‘I will not stir for one captive, the risk is too great, and too little to gain. It was presumptuous to ask it of me.

It is clear neither will compromise, and that the war will continue to grind the county to pieces.

Although Cadfael, Olivier, and Yves are main characters, the story truly centers of Philip, who has tired of seeing the country torn apart, and switches sides in the hope it would help bring about peace. (Spoiler: it doesn’t.)

He moved in silence, with a kind of contained violence, as if his mind was forcing his body into motion as the only means of relief from the smouldering turmoil within.

As with much of the rest of the series, a central theme is redemption and forgiveness, and as always, Cadfael’s beliefs and views are pragmatic, and probably not so strange at a time when the church was undergoing change, trying to fold the Celtic church into the Roman church.

If the sin is one which, with all our will to do right, we cannot regret, can it truly be a sin?

It’s a good series, and I will try and savor the stories

Characters: Brother Cadfael, Philip FitzRobert, Yves Hugonin, Olivier de Bretagne, Ermina Hugonin, Hugh Beringar, Abbot Radulfus, Brother Winfrid, Prior Robert, Brother Edmund, Brother Anselm, Brother Jerome, Brother Porter, Reginald FitzRoy, Bishop Roger de Clinton, Bishop Henry of Blois, Bishop Nigel of Ely, Ranulf of Chester, King Stephen, Empress Maud, Brien de Soulis, Robert Beaumont / Robert Bossu, William Martel, William of Ypres, Earl Robert of Gloucester, Jovetta de Montors, Isabeau, Robert de Vere, Roger of Hereford, Hugh Bigod, Brother Eadwin, Forthred of Todenham, Richard de Clare, Geoffrey FitzRichard of Clare, King David of Scotland, Humphrey de Bohun, John FitzGilbert, The Miller of Winstone, Guy Camville

Publisher: MysteriousPress

Rating: 8/10

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