Valley Of The Shadow (A Sister Fidelma Mystery)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Product Description
Sister Fidelma has been sent by her brother, king of Cashel, to Laisre, chieftain of Gleann Geis - the 'forbidden valley' - to negotiate permission to build a Christian church and school in his territory, replacing the pagan Druidic sanctuaries. Laisre is known to be hostile to the new religion, and Fidelma knows her mission will be no easy task.
Entering Gleann Geis with the Saxon Brother Eadulf, she comes across the naked, slain bodies of thirty-three young men, positioned in a sunwise circle. Each body bears the marks of stabbing and garrotting; every skull has been smashed. Who is reponsible for such evil, if not the heathen Laisre?
About the Author
Peter Tremayne is the fiction pseudonym of a well-known authority on the ancient Celts, who has utilised his knowledge of the Brehon law system and 7th-Century Irish society to create a new concept in detective fiction.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I absolutely love the Sister Fidelma series and find the books hard to put down. I often wish we still had the Brehon laws - they sound so much fairer!
Format:Kindle Edition
Sister Fidelma is exactly the sort of heroine that Lisa Simpson would approve of. She is well-educated, smart, rather pretty and very self confident. In this adventure she is sent by her brother as an ambassador to a bunch of savage pagans in an isolated valley somewhere in Kerry, (I kept thinking of Doone Valley in Lorna Doone!), where she has to solve various gruesome murders. The detective element of these books is quite typical - false trails, unknown motives, reluctant witnesses - quite enjoyable, but nothing special.
The real attraction of this series is the light it sheds on a very unfamiliar period of history. In the seventh century, while the rest of Europe was shrouded in the Dark Ages, Ireland stood out as 'the Land of Saints and Scholars', with a well developed political and legal system, and the Celtic Church was in competition with the Roman Church for the hearts and minds of British and Irish Christians. Peter Tremayne obviously knows this era well and this book is crammed full of details and facts about the Irish 'Brehon law' system as well as the church and civil politics of the day.
In the previous books I read - Absolution by Murder set at the Synod of Whitby and Shroud for the Archbishop in which Fidelma visits Rome - I had found her assertiveness rather annoying ...'How dare a mere woman speak so boldly?' he wondered. Fidelma tossed her long auburn hair, in her homeland it was normal for women to be treated as equal - why were these foreigners so backward... . However, I liked this book alot more. Because it is set in Ireland there was not the constant underlining of how much better things are in her own country, and the characters were more varied and interesting in consequence. I even began to warm to Fidelma herself, and I have to admit to taking a childish pleasure in seeing names of towns and villages that are only a few miles away from me.
These books are generally a light and pleasant read, and once you get into the mystery you don't want to put them down; I tended to finish them in a sitting. The author is inclined to show off his knowledge a bit too obviously, but I find I can easily forgive him since the setting is so unfamiliar and the details and explanations are genuinely interesting. They are not great literature, but enjoyable reading and fascinating history; of the 3 Sister Fidelma books I've read this has been the best, although they do have some progression from one book from the next and maybe should be read in order.
The real attraction of this series is the light it sheds on a very unfamiliar period of history. In the seventh century, while the rest of Europe was shrouded in the Dark Ages, Ireland stood out as 'the Land of Saints and Scholars', with a well developed political and legal system, and the Celtic Church was in competition with the Roman Church for the hearts and minds of British and Irish Christians. Peter Tremayne obviously knows this era well and this book is crammed full of details and facts about the Irish 'Brehon law' system as well as the church and civil politics of the day.
In the previous books I read - Absolution by Murder set at the Synod of Whitby and Shroud for the Archbishop in which Fidelma visits Rome - I had found her assertiveness rather annoying ...'How dare a mere woman speak so boldly?' he wondered. Fidelma tossed her long auburn hair, in her homeland it was normal for women to be treated as equal - why were these foreigners so backward... . However, I liked this book alot more. Because it is set in Ireland there was not the constant underlining of how much better things are in her own country, and the characters were more varied and interesting in consequence. I even began to warm to Fidelma herself, and I have to admit to taking a childish pleasure in seeing names of towns and villages that are only a few miles away from me.
These books are generally a light and pleasant read, and once you get into the mystery you don't want to put them down; I tended to finish them in a sitting. The author is inclined to show off his knowledge a bit too obviously, but I find I can easily forgive him since the setting is so unfamiliar and the details and explanations are genuinely interesting. They are not great literature, but enjoyable reading and fascinating history; of the 3 Sister Fidelma books I've read this has been the best, although they do have some progression from one book from the next and maybe should be read in order.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The author Peter Tremayne obviously has a great knowledge of Ireland in the 7th century and also on the Irish Law of the period. His Sister Fidelma book are attracting what can only be described as a cult following, but they are of interest to anyone who likes historical novels or mysteries. This series of books are set in Ireland in the 7th century, a time when there was total equality for women. The lead character is the beguiling Sister Fidelma. She is a brilliant scholar, a leading authority on Irish law and the sister of a king. This is also a period in history when celibacy was not yet a part of religious life.
Sister Fidelma is on a mission for her brother the king. She has been sent to Gleann Geis, the forbidden valley to meet there with the chieftain Laisre. Her mission to to negotiate with the chieftain for permission to build a Christian church and school to replace the Druid sanctuaries. Laisre's people are know to be hostile to the new religion and Fidelma knows that she will have her work cut out to convince the chief and his people of the good that will come of it . . .
Sister Fidelma is on a mission for her brother the king. She has been sent to Gleann Geis, the forbidden valley to meet there with the chieftain Laisre. Her mission to to negotiate with the chieftain for permission to build a Christian church and school to replace the Druid sanctuaries. Laisre's people are know to be hostile to the new religion and Fidelma knows that she will have her work cut out to convince the chief and his people of the good that will come of it . . .
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
