The Wise Woman: A Novel
by Philippa Gregory
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Book Summary Information
Author: Philippa GregoryEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-27
ISBN: 1416590889
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Touchstone
Book Reviews of The Wise Woman: A Novel
Book Review: Wicked awesome
Summary: 5 Stars
So this is the first Philppa Gregory I'm reading, and I don't mind if the next one is only half as good as The Wise Woman. It's disappointing to see so many negative reviews of this book because I found it to be original and riveting.
The Wise Woman is Alys, a refugee nun straight from the sack of her peaceful, wealthy abbey in 16th-century England. Alys has no idea of the repurcussions of her escape, as she darts from one bad situation to another, using and abusing right and left to save her own vulnerable skin, in a terrible time period full of easy loss and finger-pointing. Will Alys ever find the life of comfort, love and happiness she left behind at the nunnery? If she doesn't, what is left but to fall from grace, and finally, to become what is most feared?
I loved Alys' decent with all her plotting and scheming. Alys becomes unstoppable, cold, calculating and cruel-- to a point. I found that she was a fully human character with dimensions, although her choices are clearly not the best. I can't complain about the pacing of the book either - just as unstoppable as Alys. Intermixed in the threads of foreboding terror and grotesque images, the magical realism (for lack of better term) that brings dolls to life and turns babies into, well, something gross was as unexpected as the surprise ending, and it was all I could do to put the book down. So, historical fiction fans, do judge a book by its gorgeous cover, and don't pass on this one.
Summary of The Wise Woman: A Novel
In this book, originally published after her bestselling debut with the Wideacre trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory takes readers to Henry VIII's England, on a journey to the outer reaches of passion, where magic and female power meet.Alys joins a nunnery to escape the poverty of her life on the moor with her foster mother, Morach, the local wise woman with whom she lives as an outcast, but she soon finds herself thrown back into the world when Henry VIII's wreckers destroy her sanctuary. Summoned to the castle as the old lord's scribe, she falls obsessively in love with his son Hugo, who is married to Catherine. Driven to desperation by her desire, she summons the most dangerous powers Morach has taught her, but soon the passionate triangle of Alys, Hugo, and Catherine begins to explode, launching them into uncharted sexual waters. The magic Alys has conjured now has a life of its own -- a life that is horrifyingly and disastrously out of control.
Is she a witch? Since heresy means the stake, and witchcraft the rope, Alys is in mortal danger, treading a perilous path between her faith and her own female power.
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