Barely four weeks past Easter of the Year of Our Lord 1140, with Shrewsbury and all its region secure within the King's peace, the conventual peace of Matins within the great Abbey church of St Peter and St Paul is suddenly and most rudely shattered. Hunted and hounded by an angry mob into the comparative safety of sanctuary within the House of God, a terrified young man, accused of robbery and murder, and closely followed by his accusers and would-be executioners, disturbs the midnight office of the good monks of Shrewsbury. And so starts the seventh Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, in which the mediaeval sleuth finds himself with yet another wrong to right, by once more putting his mind to the solving of one of Shrewsbury's small mysteries.

In this particular case, the mystery is no greatly complex affair but it is, in any case, largely subsidiary to Ellis Peters' painting of a finely detailed picture of life in twelfth century England, and more especially here, within a moderately wealthy family household. There are some unexpected twists and developments along the way, though, and there is certainly nothing predictable about the way the story works itself out, although the ending is no particular surprise either.

In some respects, this is one of the best of the Cadfael books. Its opening pages contain some of Ellis Peters' finest writing, with her descriptions of the running to ground of young Liliwin and the reactions of Abbot Radulfus being quite hair-raising in their potency. The tale unfolds at a sure and steady pace thereafter, too, ensuring that it is always difficult to put the book down, right up until the final exciting, and rather tear-jerking, denouement.

The story line is full of surprises and excellent suspense. The ending isn't up to Peters' standards, though. Enjoyable reading none the less.

Ellis Peters, as always, creates a tense, yet delicately crafted, net of secrets and thoughts, and a solid and careful detangler of mystery in her beloved Brother Cadfael. I found the contrast of the pairs of the lovers in the end not syruppy, as one reviewer noted, but a fascinating study in the ribbons of pain and hate and even evil that can be woven through love. The two pairs are contrasts as clear as shadow and light, yet the source is the same - the flame of love is what creates the darkness of the shadows and the fire-glory of the light. You wish you could untangle them, give back the darkness to the night where it belongs, but in this book the heart turned awry cannot grow back, cannot untwist itself, and is thrown into the neverending dark. The reason I don't find it syruppy is that I think that while the focus seems to be on the fate of the two stubborn, delicate youngsters in love, Peters is really intent upon the other pair, the pair of lovers whose love brought them darkness instead of light. In any case, this book is like most of Peters' others - a finely texturized and woven tapestry of history and people in all the colors of blood and earth and that long-ago sky.

"Pleasant" is a good way to describe the Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters. These romanticised renderings of life in twelfth century England, however unreal, make the era seem pleasant enough that you almost want to live there. The countryside is lovely, there is usually a hint of romance in the air, and life moves at a measured, unrushed pace. No pavement, no pollution, no hustle and bustle. Seldom mentioned are the poverty, hunger, disease, and general stench (people rarely bathed). Life, especially in the cloister, is a bucolic idyll.

In "A Raven In The Foregate", Abbot Radulfus returns from a church council with a new priest for the Foregate. Father Adam having recently died, Radulfus brings back Father Ailnoth at the recommendation of Bishop Henry. Ailnoth, however, turns out to be a harsh and stiff-necked young priest and manages to alienate his flock before turning up dead on Christmas morning. There are plenty of suspects, not the least of whom is young Benet, nephew of Ailnoth's housekeeper.

With plenty of potential suspects, this would seem to be an intricate and challenging mystery, but ultimately the plot is not as involved as one might wish. The outcome is a happy one, if a bit too neat and satisfactory for everyone involved, but not too hard to see coming.

Like most of the books in this series, "A Raven In The Foregate" is only an average mystery. What makes this and the other Cadfael tales enjoyable is the pleasant world Peters creates and the idyllic, unhurried way in which she tells the tale. These are nice books to read and, on the strength of that I recommend them, especially to those who like a bit of history and romance along with their whodunits.

The mystery is a bit trite and too neatly wrapped up at the end, but this remains a good read because of Peter's strong characters and setting and great metaphysical questioning.

My son loved Peter Rabbit as a preschooler and now my toddler daughter does also. I did not buy him many of the Beatrix Potter tales though and I wanted my daughter to have many of the stories in one book and this one has more than the Complete Tales....that is also listed. So I chose this one. I'm glad I did! This is a must for any child who just loves these characters. Each story is just as interesting and as cute as the one before it.

"Not for Beginners Only" would be a better subtitle. My happy aquaintance with Lewis goes back many years, but I'd not thought to dig to see what other kinds of gems there were in his writings than those I'd first stumbled upon. Mine tends to be a Some-stuff-interests-me-and- other-stuff-doesn't kind of mentality.

This book impells me to a much wider appreciation for Lewis by way of the author's logic and insightful discussions. It's a pleasurable read! In the past I've been put off by the phrase "in other words..." followed, as they tend to be, by the obvious. I'm thinking, "Yeah, yeah, let's get on with it." Not so with Peters. He says, "In other words" and offers me a truly fresh, deeper insight than was at first obvious. And I'm thinking, "Oh, yeah! Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" I so appreciated Peters' well-expressed views that I found myself thoroughly savoring his marvelous intro to the pr! evailing thoughts/ideas of the 19th century in his second chapter. ("Setting the Stage") Let's face it. Learning ought to be a joy, and Peters serves up a most palatable sociology. I came away with far more than I'd bargained for.

If you're looking for light summer reading, mindless and forgettable, a paperback you can toss without a second thought--you've got the wrong book.

If you're looking for something that catches and sticks with you, draws you into some real thought, and lifts you in the process, this is your book.

After reading Peters' "Simply C.S.Lewis: A Beginner's Guide to His Life and Works," I see the familiar in a gratifying new light, and want to reread. And it goes without saying that now I'm eager to get to treasures of Lewis's which I've overlooked in the past.

I took the author to long to get to the point. She went all around in circles to get to the point

This is the first Brother Cadfael I have been talked into reading, and I loved it. The characters are compelling and touching and the perpetrator of the crime is understood by the Benedictine monks, and, thus, the reader. It's the mystery that sucks you in, but it's the character development and the way the author tells of Medieval life that are the value here, I think. At the end, I teared up a bit. I'm anxious to read more about Brother Cadfael and his colleagues!

I found this (unabridged audio) book at the library - knew nothing about the series or the author. What a pleasant surprise! Very well written, a meticulously crafted story that gently unfolds in a way that engages you from the start without any bumps or discrepancies, using a language and style that seem to come from the very times that it describes. Written with an obvious affection for the characters portrayed. And Stephen Thorne's narration is equally masterful. My recent joy at discovering that there are at least 17 other books in the series had my daughters rolling their eyes like crazy in the bookstore. Can't wait to read more!

The story is rather shallow and not intruiging at all. Although I`m very interested in medieval mystery storys I found this one particularly boring. There is no ambiente in this story, I never felt anything or smelled what it would be like to be in Wales in the 12th century. Much worse are the charakters. They are very poorly made and mere onedimensional. Also, like in an early Western one is to tell good from bad in a second. The good (or noble) people are blonde, tall, muscular, intelligent, blue-eyed and strong willed. The bad ones are dark, small, fat or skinny, dumb and dark-eyed. This, pardon me if it is not so, looks to me (a concerned Austrian)like Nazi- ideology and some kind of Übermensch- fantasy. It reminds me of the ideal Aryan: blonde, blue-eyed, tall and muscular. That is a subliminial message I couldn`t stand. Stay with Paul Harding (P.C.Doherty) or C.L.Grace instead for fun and charakters.

This is a good story which Peters populates with memorable characters, but Cadfael is merely a passenger, albeit an insightful one, in this effort.

It is not the summer of his discontent, washed by the sun of Yorke; however, it is the season for another Cadfael adventure and mystery! And Ellis Peters, in her usual intriguing way, presents us with her 18th Brother Cadfael episode in "The Summer of the Danes."

The year is 1144--the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud still rages on--and Brother Cadfael is called upon to be an interpreter to the Welsh village of Saint Asaph. Cadfael is Welsh born and he welcomes the journey to his homeland as a pleasant break from his duties as a brother at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury.

As it turns out--and naturally, as this is an Ellis Peters mystery!--a Danish fleet is sighted along the coast of Wales, a real menace, indeed. Then a young girl goes missing. Then a body is found. And Cadfael is off and running.

So is the reader! Having read all the Brother Cadfael series, I found this to be one of my favorites. Peters wastes no time in developing her story and does not hesitate to flavor her plot with plenty of Welsh history and lore. Will the Danes invade? Will the murderer be brought to justice? Cadfael's expertise, once again, proves to be essential in the resolution of the crimes.

Cadfael is the former crusader now turned monk who, while not solving murder cases, works as the Abbey's herbalist and is known throughout the area for his skills in medicine. The "Sunday Express" writes: "Cadfael...springs to life in her books, which are novels with depth. He is a man of warmth, humanity and engaging nosiness."

Do not be misled by the British TV series of the Cadfael stories. While on the surface they are quite adequate (Derek Jacobi is an ideal Cadfael), the 50-minute recounting of any of Peters' books does not do justice to the novel, which is a pity, for there are great gaps of (mis)understanding that simply cannot be supplied in such short time. Stay with the books! They are well-worth the read. Cadfael is a character worth knowing!

Billyjhobbs@tyler.net

Someone who has this book, please list the nursery rhymes that are included in it. I don't know why editor's book reviews for books with multible contents don't list the titles included.

I am a beginer at sign and did not know the diference between ASL and Signed English. This book has simple Illistrations that are fun and chalanging. I purchesed it to learn to sign nursry rhymes for my 18mo. son. I quit using this book because I was unable to remember the signs very well. Now I am using video to learn the signs first. My son enjoys the pictures and I will learn the signs then the rhymes later. A good book but not for beginers.

i read this for a class in early-modern British History. The study of tracing Americas colonial roots in England is not common and this book attempts to give a start. I found the book amazingly repetitive in ideas and concerns and felt better research on the primary documents could have been done to find a wider range of views. There is also a historical error in calculating the number of Native Americans before contact (the book states 1 million and modern estimates are more like 2 million). It is a short read but take a lot of time to wade through the antiquated language of the Puritans.