A Rare Benedictine

the advent of Brother Cadfael

by ,

Paperback, 150 pages

English language

Published Sept. 1, 1991 by Mysterious Press.

ISBN:
978-0-446-40088-6
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OCLC Number:
24263106

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3 stars (1 review)

These three short stories form a prequel to the Ellis Peters series featuring Brother Cadfael, a medieval monk detective. The first story describes the circumstances around Brother Cadfael’s decision to renounce his former life and become a monk. The second and third stories give Brother Cadfael the opportunity to solve mysteries that occur at Shrewsbury Abbey in the years just preceding the first full-length Brother Cadfael novel.

10 editions

reviewed A Rare Benedictine by Edith Pargeter (Brother Cadfael (16))

A Brief Collection

3 stars

This short package of stories is mostly forgettable, with much of it reading like b-plots from other novels. The notable exception is the story that tells how Cadfael left his soldiering life and joined the Benedictine order. This one definitely delivers the best and most complete tale of the collection, and the peak at young(ish) Cadfael is exciting, he's strangely distant as a younger man, and keeps his thoughts hidden even from the reader. I'm still unsure if it's clever characterization, or just weirdly flat. Still, a fun little read.

Subjects

  • Cadfael, Brother (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
  • Monks -- England -- Fiction
  • Shrewsbury (England) -- Fiction
  • Great Britain -- History -- Stephen, 1135-1154 -- Fiction