If I hadn't known this was a Brother Cadfael book, I probably wouldn't have read it. I was seriously turned off by the title. And if I'd seen the tv version before I read the book, I DEFINITELY wouldn't have read it. The tv versions of Brother Cadfael are of varying quality, and this one is definitely the worst. Traducing the character of Rhun, for example, is not only terrible, it's unsupportable in the long run, because Rhun remains an important character very nearly to the end of the series. Fortunately, I didn't give this volume a pass. It has its flaws, yes, but it's still very good. And, like the curate's egg, parts of it are excellent.In this book Brother Cadfael clears a few accounts. He tells Hugh Beringar about whose body is in St Winifred's coffin. And at the end he tells him something else.In the meantime, in the south, Empress Maud, though she's already taken to calling herself Lady of The English (a title reserved only for queens regnant), is still not crowned. And Bishop Henry of Blois, the captive Stephen's brother and also the papal legate, has called Abbot Radulfus and other clerics to a legatine council, to try to get some sort of resolution to the standoff. And during the council, a representative of Queen Matilda (Stephen's wife) is attacked for forthrightly delivering a message for Matilda--and a knight in Maud's service is killed defending him from his attackers.All faraway, it would seem, like the lightning early in the story that's so far away the thunder is muted and long-delayed. But it comes into the enclave in sundry ways: Abbot Radulfus asks the monks for prayers for the dead man. There's reason to believe one of the people present at the knight's murder (the victim's foster-son) has come north, perhaps to Shrewsbury. And an emissary of Laurence d'Angers, the overlord of the victim Rainald Bossard, is sent to try to win over Stephen's advocates.And who is the emissary? Why, none other than Olivier de Bretagne, who thinks of Cadfael as his foster-father, and looks forward to seeing him again.But since it's approaching the date of St Winifred's translation to the abbey the monks there have plenty of other concerns. The book starts on May 25, 1141, and the saint's translation day is around June 22. Pilgrims begin arriving before the end of May. And among the most noteworthy are Alice Weaver, and her orphaned Welsh niece Melangell and nephew Rhun.Rhun is quite convincingly disabled. Brother Cadfael would not easily be deceived, because he immediately takes Rhun in hand, and begins a course of medicines and massage. So though Rhun's aunt believes wholeheartedly in a miracle, Rhun himself thinks it's presumptuous to ask for one. He's more concerned for the welfare of his companions, both from home and on the road.Ciaran, who is trekking barefoot to Aberdaron, where he hopes for a peaceful death, since he avows himself mortally ill,and Matthew, his devoted companion, also come to Cadfael for help for Ciaran's injuries.What I found most disturbing in the book is the celebration of pain. I can't see it any other way. Not of Ciaran's pain, which Cadfael deplores as unnecessary, but of Rhun's. Cadfael seems to be arguing that it's a higher spiritual level to accept pain, even when one has the power to escape it, if temporarily.One point: if it seems at one point that Cadfael is arguing in favor of violent revenge, it needs to be seen in context. What he's doing is provoking the intended avenger, to force him to see that he can't take revenge without destroying himself. But even so, Cadfael seems, for once, to fall short in mercy and compassion himself. Cadfael has pointed out repeatedly that condemning people forever for actions, however harmful, which take up only a short period of the person's life is not only unworthy, but wasteful--yet he seems unable (quite) to feel ruth for the sufferings of someone who did something that, granted, was very bad, but that, nevertheless, was far from premeditated--not in cold, but in very hot blood indeed, and on impulse. He acts to try to save the slayer, but he can't seem to manage to forgive him. It's a sad falling off, and, let's hope, temporary. A note on maps: the various publishers of these editions seem to have decide to include maps essentially randomly. So maps at the beginning or end of particular volumes are often completely unrelated to the text, or nearly so. But it would pay to collect the maps from all the volumes, because all of them are related to at least one of the books, and some are relevant to several.
1st Recorded Reading: November 2003There is much to be said for having a paperback that is part of a continuing series of books on the floor next to the nightstand; reading a chapter or two each night helps me to compose my mind to sleep. And this particular book in the series is another one of the very good ones; even having read the book, I couldn’t remember whodunit, and very much enjoyed how everything played out, both in the world of English politics of the mid-12th century and in the world of Brother Cadfael, who not only makes the course of true love run smooth (again), but solves a murder, almost by accident, even though he never was near the scene of the crime.At the Abbey, it is late May, and almost time for the Feast of St. Winifred, whose reliquary coffin now rests at the Abbey. Abbot Radulfus barely makes it back home in time for the three-day festival; he had been called to Westminster by Henry, Bishop of Winchester (King Stephen’s younger brother), who, with the capture of King Stephen and the defeat of his forces in the Battle of Lincoln (February 1141), had changed his allegiance to his cousin and Stephen’s opponent, the Empress Matilda, who was only waiting for the proper invitation from London before entering the City to be crowned Queen of England. While the Abbot was in Winchester, he was appalled that a supporter of King Stephen had been attacked in the streets of the town; one Rainald Bossart, a knight in support of the Empress, had gone to his aid, and had gotten killed – knifed in the side, and left to die in the streets. The Abbot goes so far as to send a letter to his Abbey ahead of his arrival home, asking for prayers for the soul of this knight, even though the Abbot and the Abbey are on the side of King Stephen in the civil war.As the Abbot returns to the Abbey, a throng of pilgrims also arrive from all over England for the feast of St. Winifred. Among their number are four who attract Brother Cadfael’s attention. A young man named Ciaran appears, having walked barefoot from somewhere to the south, and bearing a huge wooden cross on a cord around his neck, on his way to Wales; he is accompanied by one Matthew, another young man, who follows him step by step, and who keeps encouraging him to lay by his cross and his vow. Two young people have also come with their aunt, who has taken care of them since they were orphaned; a young woman named Melangell and her sixteen-year-old brother, Rhun, who is crippled by a withered leg, but who is uncomplaining to an extraordinary degree.As the twenty-second day of June, 1141, approaches (the feast day of their Saint), Brother Cadfael realizes that somehow, the murderer of Rainard Bossart might be one of the many pilgrims and penitents who have come to the festival; and the book takes a winding way through the maze, as the Empress Matilda sits in Winchester, calls herself “Lady of the English”, and proceeds to antagonize her supporters and the people of London. The young woman, Melangell, is torn between her love for her brother (she is in hopes that St. Winifred will heal him) and her love for Matthew, who seems to care for her, but who is tied in some mysterious unbreakable link to the penitent Ciaran.I am now at the half-way point in reading the Brother Cadfael mysteries (and considerably more than half-way in my re-reading of the books in the series that I had already read). It’s a long way until I must bid Brother Cadfael goodbye, and till then, I will enjoy reading these mysteries before bed each night.
What do You think about The Pilgrim Of Hate (1997)?
This was actually the first Cadfael mystery I read, because I was reading reviews of the TV adaptation and saw that everybody who had read the book hated the TV version. This book made me decide to read through the series in order, and this is still my favorite so far. There are a lot of coincidences, and I hate the fact that the male half of the obligatory romantic couple hits the female. I know for the period it wouldn't have been that unusual, but I hate it when any type of abuse is part of a
—Miriam
Another stellar and complex story. It was delightful to see Cadfael and Olivier encounter each other again, with all the different textures of their relationship with each other and with other people. I also thought the love story in this one (there always seems to be a love story!) was well-done. The revelation of characters and motivations was wonderful, but other aspects of the ending were a little - odd, I guess. In particular I thought that Peters was trying to walk the line of having things happen that could be interpreted (that would be, by these characters) as miraculous, but which could have entirely coincidental sources - but that it was a little difficult to see them as NOT miraculous, for me, which detracted a bit.
—Isis
The plot in this one wasn't great, but I hated the ending. Here, [WARNING: I SPOIL THE ENDING] (view spoiler)[the crippled child is cured by a for-reals miracle: he touches the saint's coffin, casts down his crutches and walks away. On a feast day in front of hundred of people. (hide spoiler)]
—Rachel
