Whiter Than the Lily

A good outing for Clare, who is managing to make the People of the Woods into less than supermen, and Joanna is developing into more of a real person from what my older boy dismissed as a "Mary Sue," i.e., an annoyingly perfect character. I will point out that the sickness in the novel appears to the physician to be more like Ebolavirus than Bubonic Plague, but I doubt the medievals could have told the difference.

Sir Josse has been invited to visit his neighbour Brice's manor and while he is there Brice says that he would like Josse to meet some friends of his. Not wishing to appear impolite Sir Josse agrees to travel with him to his friends. When they arrive Sir Josse finds that there is an ulterior motive to their visit. The elderly knight he has been brought to see has a young and beautiful wife of seventeen or eighteen who is devoted to her husband and although they have been trying since their marriage they have been unable to conceive a child. The knight Sir Ambrose has been told of Josse's involvement with Hawkenlye Abbey and the success they have had with healing the sick in mind and body. After speaking with Sir Josse, Ambrose agrees to allow his wife Galiena to go on ahead to the Abbey with her maid and groom and he will follow in a couple of days. His hope is that the nuns can help his wife with their inability to have a child. However when Galiena arrives at the Abbey she is alone and her demeanour is totally different to the happy and devoted wife the nuns had expected. A tragic death sets Sir Josse on the path of danger and intrigue. The Abbess Helewise becomes embroiled in the same dangers that face Josse and the perils reach out to the Abbey itself . . .