The Nun’s Tale

The Nun’s Tale (1995) Candace Robb

Set in England in 1366.

This is the first Owen Archer book I read, many years ago, and I have forgotten how very unlikable the nun of the title was.

(T)here is yet something else— something that frightens her. She was given the last rites in Beverley. She fears that in God’s eyes she is dead.

Anne Calverley on her lucid days? Was she aware of her changeable nature? Was Joanna? Had Joanna seen her mother’s moods and wondered whether she would be the same? And if she had, had she feared it?

Those may be some of the only sympathetic views of Dame Joanna you’ll see.

However, Lucie is pregnant, and Owen is attempting to come to terms with both her pregnancy and the impending babe (and the fact that he keeps being called away by Thoresby.

“Of course I want our baby. What are you talking about?”

“You should be resting.”

“Sweet Mary and all the saints, there would be precious few people on this earth if mothers must rest while carrying their babies. Who has the leisure to rest for nine months?”

“Lucie examined her, Tom. Got her hands in all that blood. What will that do to the child, Lucie looking at all that blood? And the horror of it all?”

The Church of those years is a very different place from any of the modern churches, but people–well, in many ways people are the same.

“We would not preach so much of faith if we expected the faithful never to doubt”

Despite the horror of events and the general unlikability of the nun, this is another good story and mystery.
Rating: 7.5/10

Published by Diversion Books

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