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The Wise Woman
  
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The Wise Woman (Paperback)

by Philippa Gregory (Author)
2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 640 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (6 Nov 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007230044
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007230044
  • Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

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Product Description

Review
Praise for 'The Wise Woman': 'Compulsively readable' Andrea Newman, Sunday Express 'Gregory's principal feat in this elaborate novel is the irrefutable artistry with which she lends her prose a constant sense of history!Success results from the tense, almost shocking contrast between serious issues -- religious doctrine, political integrity, social dynamics -- and flights of erotic fancy.' Sunday Times

Product Description
This is reissue of Philippa Gregory's disturbing novel of passion and betrayal in Tudor England. It is a haunting story of a woman's desire in a time of turbulence. Alys joins the nunnery to escape hardship and poverty but finds herself thrown back into the outside world when Henry VIII's wreckers destroy her sanctuary. With nothing to support her but her looks, her magic and her own instinctive cunning, Alys has to tread a perilous path between the faith of her childhood and her own female power. When she falls in love with Hugo, the feudal lord and another woman's husband, she dips into witchcraft to defeat her rival and to win her lover, but finds - as her cynical old foster-mother had advised - that magic makes a poor servant but a dominant master. Since heresy against the new church means the stake, and witchcraft the rope, Alys's danger is mortal. A woman's powers are no longer safe to use!

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Customer Reviews

47 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (8)
1 star:
 (18)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.6 out of 5 stars (47 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly disappointing, 14 Feb 2005
This review is from: The Wise Woman (Paperback)
I have read other Phillipa Gregory novels and really enjoyed them, especially The Other Boleyn Girl and The Queen's Fool. Sadly this book was a real let down. The historical detail is interesting but the characters are dislikable and behave in a bizarre fashion most of the time. The main character, Alys and the male lead Hugo, frankly deserve each other as they are self obsessed and self destructive. The book is full of explicit sex scenes far more so than the other novels by this author which I have read. I was not shocked by this but felt they added little to the narrative and proved a poor compensation for unadequate character development.

I do like the work of Phillipa Gregory but would not recommend this particular novel. If you want a good story read The Other Boleyn Girl, The Respectable Trade or The Queen's Fool and give this one a miss.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book but not a historical novel, 19 Dec 2006
By J. Bell "jackiebell7" (North Yorkshire) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Wise Woman (Paperback)
I have read many of Philippa Gregorys book, but they have all been historical novels, so i looked forward to reading this one as it isn't. I thought the book was great and didnt want to put it down. You start off feeling sorry for Alys, but i have to say by the middle I thought she was very conniving. The ending is quite abrupt, but i actually liked it, as Alys let her true feelings come out. I have only just read all the other reviews and am surprised that it has so many bad ones. It is not like 'The Other Boleyn Girl' or 'The Queens Fool', but not all her books can be like that. And I thought introducing the white magic/herbalism was great as they did do that then. I think the wax dolls and sexual encounters were just tricks of the mind and herb Alys used. I would recommend this book to people but dont expect a historical novel, as it isn't one. I loved it.
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A great mixture of historical fiction and witchcraft, 18 April 2003
This review is from: The Wise Woman (Paperback)
This is such an interesting book as the back of the book doesn't give away all the themes, and it is nice to be surprised when you're reading. This is a historical fiction book, but doesn't have famous people in it like The Other Boleyn Girl. However, the events from that book affect the characters in this story in their marriages, religion, and deaths. As in The Other Boleyn Girl, the author uses modern language which I liked as it doesn't take away the meaning of their thoughts on "Ye and thou" etc. The use of witchcraft and Alys as a herbalist/healer is a central theme to the story, and is fascinating how blurred the roles are. She is wanted as a healer but if anything goes wrong, it's witchcraft. Knowing about drugs as we do now we can take our judgment on some of the instances. But the consequences of the wax dolls is quite surreal and frightening at times. The corruption of Alys after escaping the nunnery shows the desire and greed of the other characters and their influence on Alys is great. This is a very good read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wise Woman
This is such an exciting and fascinating even if at times frightening book, I could not put it down and felt I was really in the story. Read more
Published 20 days ago by L. Bleach

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing on different levels
This is the first Philippa Gregory novel I've read, and although I wouldn't class it as a great novel, it hasn't put me off the author and I shall read her other books. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Amanda Warwick

1.0 out of 5 stars So disappointing
I have never written a review for Amazon before but I was so so disappointed with this book that I was prompted in to writing this. Read more
Published 26 days ago by Emily Jane Bronte

2.0 out of 5 stars Admittedly a 'page turner'
"The Wise Woman" is a far cry from some of Philippa's other, first rate historical novels, but indeed can hold one's interest. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Elizabeth G. Melillo

5.0 out of 5 stars What's with all the bad reviews?
I have read some Phillipa Gregory, and have enjoyed her books immensely.
This book was no different; I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be a gripping, hauntingly good... Read more
Published 4 months ago by S. Wood

1.0 out of 5 stars complete disaster
I loved The Other Boleyn girl by Philippa Gregory and was expecting a lot - but this book is complete and open pornography with totally undeveloped characters and limited... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Vera

2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly Dissapointed
I was majorly dissapointed when I finished reading this book earlier on this afternoon. The story has the promise of being extremely exciting and the ending highly anticipated... Read more
Published 9 months ago by April Chamberlain

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
I am a huge fan of The Boleyn Girl and enjoyed The Virgins Lover so was really looking forward to reading this book, however I was very disappointed. Read more
Published 10 months ago by stacey987

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the time.
My Mum was given this book as a gift a couple of years ago and now after we have both read it we agreed that if this had been the first book by Philippa Gregory we had come across... Read more
Published 11 months ago by J. H. Grunill

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant - Better than I had thought it would be
I was worried to read this, as I have read all of the Tudor Historical Fiction books by Philippa Gregory and absolutely loved them - I didn't want to find a book that wasn't as... Read more
Published 12 months ago by A. M. Price

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