- Hardcover
- Publisher: Chivers Audio Books (May 1990)
- ISBN-10: 0816194238
- ISBN-13: 978-0816194230
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
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First Sentence
outside the monastic enclave, but here, in the enclosed garden within the walls, close to the abbot's fishponds and the brook that worked the abbey mill, Brother Cadfael ruled unchallenged. The herbarium in particular was his kingdom, for he had built it up gradually through the fifteen years of labour, and added to it many exotic plants of his own careful raising, collected in a roving youth that had taken him as far afield as Venice, and Cyprus and the Holy Land. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
outside the monastic enclave, but here, in the enclosed garden within the walls, close to the abbot's fishponds and the brook that worked the abbey mill, Brother Cadfael ruled unchallenged. The herbarium in particular was his kingdom, for he had built it up gradually through the fifteen years of labour, and added to it many exotic plants of his own careful raising, collected in a roving youth that had taken him as far afield as Venice, and Cyprus and the Holy Land. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Ellis Peter's first Cadfael murder mystery takes as its setting the events surrounding the translation of the holy relics of Saint Winifred from the remote Welsh village of Gwytherin to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury in 1138. Taking this real event as her starting point, Peters weaves an enchanting if rather overly romanticised tale of mediaeval rural and monastic life. Naturally, the practical common sense and basic human decency of her very worldy central character, Brother Cadfael, win out in the end. Here, he neatly side-steps all of many power-struggles - both secular and ecclesiastical - going on around him, to provide everyone with their heart's desire and solve the inevitable murder mystery into the bargain! Ellis Peters' writing style is so wonderfully erudite that one can always forgive her the occasional lapse into stereotypical characterisation or silliness of plot which tend to pepper her novels. "A Morbid Taste for Bones" is no exception in this regard, and whilst the story's central murder mystery is not at all hard for the reader to solve, the telling of it is so captivating that the book is hard to put down until it's finished!
Incidentally, I would recommend reading this book before any others in the series, because otherwise you will know which of the main suspects can be eliminated immediately! Of course, if you've seen the TV dramatisation, you'll know the main outcome already, but even then, the book is sufficiently different to still make it well worth reading. Recommended.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
"Brother Cadfael had long been up before Prime, pricking out cabbage seedlings before the day was aired, and his thoughts were all on birth, growth, and fertility, not at all on graves and reliquaries and violent deaths...." Thus we meet Ellis Peters' inimitable monk in the initial episode of her long-running Brother Cadfael series. "A Morbid Taste for Bones" begins a series that has collected untold readers who feel that the series is also a crusade for themselves!
It is the twelfth century and throughout Britain, thoughts are on the civil war that is going on between King Stephen and the Empress Maud, twelve years of internecine struggle that, as civil wars are wont to do, has deeply divided the people.
And at the Benedictine monastery in Shrewsbury, Cadfael has settled down to a life of monastic devotion, following a career as a crusader to the Holy Land. His is a past that at first seems incongruent with the life of a monk, but God works His
wonders in many ways, and, as no sinner is beyond God's mercy, as Cadfael likes to say, he has now found his place on earth. "(He) himself found nothing strange in his wide-ranging career, and had forgotten nothing and regretted nothing. He saw no contradiction in the delight he had taken in battle and adventure, and the keen pleasure he now found in quietude."
He is a specialist in medicinal herbs and is in charge of the herbarium; he is a man of God gifted in logic and fair-play; he is a man of great understanding and compassion; and he is no fool. In "A Morbid Taste for Bones," Cadfael is assigned by his prior to lead a delegation to a small village in Wales to acquire the bones of their patron saint, Saint Winifred.
... Read more ›5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio Cassette
The love and greed for relics moved all people in the Middle Ages. We can see that love and that greed reflected in this marvellous book but in the end justice is done and the final twist is the most ironic you could ever expect. Besides, this twist goes on and reappears in other books with Brother Cadfael, so it is essential for every fan of this monk-detective for whom relics are special, so very special...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first Cadfael novel, from its start a delight. 1137. At Shrewsbury's Benedictine Abbey the magnificent herb garden bears testimony to the skills of its creator, a fifty seven year old monk with a most worldly past. For decades Cadfael fought and loved. Now he has settled for monastic life. His talents are wide, he not only adept at treating illness, but an acute observer of all around him. Great is his understanding of human frailty. Outwardly mild, he should never be underestimated.
Being of Welsh blood, he is the ideal choice to accompany Prior Robert and delegation to Wales, the mission delicate: transfer of Saint Winifred from her grave in remote Gwytherin. The Abbey thereby hopes to attract hordes of pilgrims and greatly boost its income. How will the people of Gwytherin react? Suspicion becomes hostility when their main spokesman is murdered....
Here is a book not to be hurried - all the better to savour its abundance of fascinating detail, subtleties and underlying humour. (The latter bubbles to the surface when a seemingly insurmountable problem is finally resolved.)
The times are evocatively depicted, as are the communities at both the Abbey and the Welsh village. For scene setting and creation of fullblooded characters, this is writing of a very high order. Interwoven are two love stories that greatly appeal and a murder mystery that genuinely intrigues.
An immensely enjoyable, leisurely, uplifting read - its detective far removed from those usually met in books. And so many novels to follow! What more could a reader want?
Being of Welsh blood, he is the ideal choice to accompany Prior Robert and delegation to Wales, the mission delicate: transfer of Saint Winifred from her grave in remote Gwytherin. The Abbey thereby hopes to attract hordes of pilgrims and greatly boost its income. How will the people of Gwytherin react? Suspicion becomes hostility when their main spokesman is murdered....
Here is a book not to be hurried - all the better to savour its abundance of fascinating detail, subtleties and underlying humour. (The latter bubbles to the surface when a seemingly insurmountable problem is finally resolved.)
The times are evocatively depicted, as are the communities at both the Abbey and the Welsh village. For scene setting and creation of fullblooded characters, this is writing of a very high order. Interwoven are two love stories that greatly appeal and a murder mystery that genuinely intrigues.
An immensely enjoyable, leisurely, uplifting read - its detective far removed from those usually met in books. And so many novels to follow! What more could a reader want?
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Introducing Cadfael
This first book of the Cadfael series is a good introduction to the kind of style we can expect. The monk-detective from Shrewsbury unweaves a plot when the brothers go to Wales to... Read more
Published 3 months ago by History Geek
3.0 out of 5 stars
a fair effort
This is the first cadfael i have read but plan to read a lot more having bought all of them.It is a fair effort to begin with and can be a bit slow for my taste in parts, but is... Read more
Published 15 months ago by oldginger ebbw vale
5.0 out of 5 stars
The First of Many
If you have never read Brother Cadfael before, you are in for a rare treat. This is the first of twenty-one murder mystery novels which are best read in order as they chronicle the... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Coyley@
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable easy read
I hadn't read any Ellis Peters previously but I found it a surprisingly funny book as well as a whodunnit. The characters were entertaining and the story flowed quickly. Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2011 by Bernie
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first Cadfael and a great mystery
As with many books or stories that we get involve with, the characters and their relationships to others in the environment is an important as the mystery. Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by bernie
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Brilliant Launch
A "Morbid Taste For Bones" is the first of the highly successful Brother Cadfael mysteries written by an author who meticulously researched the period. Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2009 by John O'Brien
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Like a battered ship settling at last for a quiet harbour"
"For Brother Cadfael had come late to the monastic life, like a battered ship settling at last for a quiet harbour. Read more
Published on 29 July 2009 by Nicholas Casley
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first Cadfael and a great mystery
As with many books or stories that we get involve with, the characters and their relationships to others in the environment is an important as the mystery. Read more
Published on 16 April 2009 by bernie
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Pleaseing read, but overshadowed by age.
First book of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael.
OK, so I freely admit coming to the novels of Brother Cadfael somewhat late in their publication history - actually some... Read more
OK, so I freely admit coming to the novels of Brother Cadfael somewhat late in their publication history - actually some... Read more
Published on 3 Feb 2009 by Mr. R. Coleman
5.0 out of 5 stars
First in a Fantastic Series
This novel is the first of the best selling Brother Cadfael Chronicles by Elis Peters.
The novels feature Brother Cadfael, a soldier and sailor now turned healer and a... Read more
The novels feature Brother Cadfael, a soldier and sailor now turned healer and a... Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2008 by Nadia
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