I read it some time ago but somehow neglected to share my deep and insightful views with everyone here at Goodreads. This is a mystery/historical fiction of the Cadfael Chronicles. One of my little pleasures in life is the knowledge that I have deliberately not yet read them all. It is always a pleasure to read Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael books. I do not like spoilers so no answers here, just some of the questions to be answered in the story - whose body is in the ice where are the children who is the stranger searching for the children why does Cadfael feel a connection to the stranger who is committing the raids and murders who attacked Brother Oswin and left him for dead? These and other questions puzzle Cadfael, Hugh, the reader and others. The division of the country caused by this war, appropriately known as the Anarchy, directly complicates things for Brother Cadfael and deputy sheriff Hugh Beringar. This volume of the Cadfael books is mystery and historical fiction set against the background of the civil war between Empress Maud and King Stepen.

Well written historical fiction and mysteryīy Charles van Buren on February 18, 2018 And at journey’s end awaits a vision of what is best, and worst, in humankind. The road will lead him to a chill and terrible murder and a tale of passion gone awry. Now Cadfael sets out on a dangerous quest to find them. Why this holy man has been attacked and what his fevered ravings reveal soon give Brother Cadfael a clue to the fate of the missing travelers. A wounded monk, found naked and bleeding by the roadside, will surely die without Cadfael’s healing arts. The trio never reaches Shrewsbury, having disappeared somewhere in the wild countryside.Ĭadfael is afraid for these three lost lambs, but another call for help sends him to the church of Saint Mary. Among them are two orphans from a noble family, a boy of thirteen and an eighteen-year-old girl of great beauty, and their companion, a young Benedictine nun. Raging civil war has sent refugees fleeing north from Worcester. The winter of 1139 will disrupt Brother Cadfael’s tranquil life in Shrewsbury with the most disturbing of events.

The Virgin in the Ice by Ellis Peters