This is an absorbing read. The freezing atmosphere (the events take place in midwinter) is magnificently conveyed and pervades the whole story. The battle for survival in harsh surroundings that 12th century men and women experienced makes the background to an engrossing tale.
Adelia Aguilar is a female doctor from Salerno brought to England as an investigator in a previous book. She is involved, this time, in the activities around the death of Henry II’s mistress, Rosamund Clifford, in her tower near Godstow by the Thames. As is clearly explained it was possible for a female to practise as a doctor in Sicily in the 12th century but in England the concept of a female doctor is anathema. Adelia’s Moorish companion portrays the doctor while she translates his comments from the Arabic ostensibly as his assistant. The attitudes towards women and the attitudes to religion are a major feature in this book - whether they would have been such a central topic then I don’t know. For the modern reader it is a fascinating and frustrating comparison of views.
The title is an indication of a significant factor within the story figuratively and in reality. The portrayal of vicious and prolonged action is but one of the author’s skills. As first stated she can really produce the arctic atmosphere of a winter in the period. The mystery is complex, embedded in the attitudes of the period and ultimately resolved with some violence.
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Jennifer Palmer
The first book about Adelia is Mistress of the Art of Death