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    The Summer of the Danes
    The Summer of the Danes
    The Summer of the Danes
    Ebook373 pages7 hours

    The Summer of the Danes

    By Ellis Peters

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    The twelfth-century Welsh monk is caught up in civil war and captured by Danish mercenaries, in the Silver Dagger Award–winning medieval mystery series.

    In the summer of 1144, a strange calm has settled over England. The armies of King Stephen and the Empress Maud, the two royal cousins contending for the throne, have temporarily exhausted each other. On the whole, Brother Cadfael considers peace a blessing. Still, a little excitement never comes amiss to a former soldier, and Cadfael is delighted to accompany a friend on a mission of diplomacy to his native Wales.
     
    But shortly after their arrival, the two monks are caught up in another royal feud. The Welsh prince Owain Gwynedd has banished his brother Cadwaladr, accusing him of the treacherous murder of an ally. The reckless Cadwaladr has retaliated by landing an army of Danish mercenaries, poised to invade Wales. As the two armies teeter on the brink of bloody civil war, Cadfael is captured by the Danes and must navigate the brotherly quarrel that threatens to plunge an entire kingdom into chaos.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMysteriousPress.com Open Road
    Release dateAug 5, 2014
    ISBN9781497671560
    Author

    Ellis Peters

    Ellis Peters (the pen name of Edith Pargeter, 1913–1995) is a writer beloved of millions of readers worldwide and has been widely adapted for radio and television, including her Brother Cadfael crime novels, which were made into a series starring Derek Jacobi. She has been the recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger, Edgar Award for Best Novel, Agatha Award for Best Novel, and was awarded an OBE for her services to literature in 1994.

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    Reviews for The Summer of the Danes

    4/5

    13 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Unusual in that it is not set in the environs of Shrewsbury, in this story Cadfael is sent as interpreter/companion with Brother mark, once his apprentice in the abbey, now attached to the bishop of Chester and bearing a gift from him to the newly restored bishop of St. Asaph (the see had been empty 70 years). The new bishop is Norman, and his relations with the powerful Welsh prince Owain of Gwynnedd (who is visiting him when Mark and Cafael arrive) are delicate. The situation becomes more difficult later when Mark and Cadfael and a mysterious young woman fall into the hands of Owain's exiled brother Cadwaladr who has returned with an army of Danish exiles. There us also a murder for Cadfael to solve.
    • 5/5
      The first Cadfael book I ever read (although not the first in the series). What a felicitous discovery!
    • 3/5
      Brother Cadfael's Day Off
      Brother Cadfael's Trip to the Beach
      The Summer of the Danes: Sleeping My Way Through Copenhagen and Other Life Experiences
      I! Think! I! Love! You! But What Am I So Afraid Of?
      I'm On A Boat, Bitch! And So Are All These Other Vikings
    • 4/5
      Six-word review: Loyalty drives this unusual Cadfael adventure.Extended review:Brother Cadfael is even more of a bystander in this episode than he has been in other recent installments in the series. I can't even say that his role is to bear witness, much less advise, because far too great a portion of the action and interaction takes place outside his ken.What's more, the mystery, to the extent that there is any, is so peripheral to the story that by the time the culprit is revealed, it's pretty much a matter of indifference.Yet for all that, this is a Cadfael novel, and it has the delectable language, the atmosphere, and the vivid historicity that characterize the series. If our favorite twelfth-century monastic detective hasn't very much to do, that's all right. It's fine just to be in his company.And what this eighteenth chronicle does have is the drama of contending brother princes, clashing warriors, marauding invaders, ambitious clerics, and a runaway bride. In the hands of a confident and accomplished author, the depiction of secular and ecclesiastical conflict and diplomacy in medieval Wales comes to life. Ties of blood and fealty work opposition between a pair of Welsh nobles and their followers, while a band of seagoing Danish mercenaries from Ireland show their code of honor as well as their raider skills. Loyalty and allegiance, deception and betrayal play out under Cadfael's observant eye. Despite peril and captivity, it's clear that the good Benedictine, once a man of arms and action himself, enjoys being a spectator close to the fray.
    • 3/5
      Cadfael accompanies the Bishop of Lichfield's representative as interpreter on a journey to the newly-revived Welsh diocese of St Asaph. The journey is more eventful than expected. The Danish fleet is sighted approaching the Menai Strait, a girl disappears and a corpse is discovered. Cadfael goes back home into Wales, to act as interpreter between the new abbot, and the local princes. Problems occur, when the younger brother of one of the princes, who has been disowned from his land, arrives back in Wales with an army of Danes over from Dublin.Not exactly full of tension - the Danes are decent folk, and Owain and Otin have no quarrel with each other, preferring to watch Owain's brother make an eejit of himself, but an enjoyable quick read none the less
    • 4/5
      Ellis Peters presents us with another elegantly written medieval mystery featuring Brother Cadfael, herbalist and amateur sleuth of the Abbey in Shrewbury, England. Cadfael journeys to Wales on a diplomatic mission with Brother Mark, a young, slight monk who radiates innocence and goodness in the jaded and sometimes brutal world of 12th century England. There is interesting history of Danish mauraders who settled in Dublin, Ireland and an interesting discussion of the culture of medieval Wales focusing on honor and kinship obligations. While on their mission to Wales, Cadfael and Mark become caught up in a battle between noble brothers with the expected love interest threading through the tale. Beautiful language in a medieval cadence and a sense of authenticity in the colorful details and description of the passing scenes.
    • 4/5
      A bit of a twist, far from the Abbey. The mystery is solved in the end, but not by Cadfael. For this tale, he is pretty much along for the ride rather than central to the story and the solution. Still, it is an excellent read with the usual twists and turns. Ever closer to the last book in the series. That saddens me. These are a joy to read.
    • 3/5
      I am finding as I read these novels that Peters is not consistent. This one should not be labeled a mystery. Oh there is a body and early enough that one thinks a mystery is to be solved, but Cadfael certainly has no part in it, or so little at the begining that one thinks that Peters/Pargeter wanted to indulge in the aspects of the time period that she found more fascinating.Through 17 earlier adventurers we have warmed to Brother Cadfael and seen that his keen mind and his ability to be a deep study of human nature leads him to uncover man's basest nature, that of the murderer. Here in this novel we see that Cadfael still is an observer of humanity and history, but his skill set in solving crime is unneeded. Prince Owain and his brother Cadwaladr have a falling out. Cadwaladr is banished, in order to get back to his lands, he hires Dane raiders from Dublin, hence the title.Cadfael happens to be deep in Wales and far from Shrewsbury as a translator for his old protege, Brother Mark and immediately he is caught up on the edge of events. But the body and the murder have little to do with the Danes and the two princely brothers. Indeed at the end of the book, Peters just conveniently resolves it. What happened to the smart Cadfael who allowed me to read alongside his discoveries to solve the mystery too?
    • 4/5
      Cadfael is sent to Wales with Brother Mark to deliver some gifts to some new bishops and finds himself embroiled in Welsh Politics, a murder mystery, a love story and some visiting Dublin Vikings.The murder is almost incidental to the politics and the Vikings who are involved in the politics but it's still interesting and engaging.
    • 5/5
      Brother Cadfael must travel in this story. It makes for an interesting history as well as a mystery.
    • 4/5
      Brother Cadfael has an opportunity to visit Wales with Brother Mark, and is soon caught up in the local politics.

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    The Summer of the Danes - Ellis Peters

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