Product Description

This is the reissue of Philippa Gregory's disturbing novel of passion and betrayal in Tudor, England. This 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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3571 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

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

Synopsis
This is the reissue of Philippa Gregory's disturbing novel of passion and betrayal in Tudor, England. This 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!

About the Author
Philippa Gregory is an established writer and broadcaster for radio and television. She holds a PhD in eighteenth-century literature from the University of Edinburgh. She lives in the North of England with her family.

Customer Reviews

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. When you come towards the end of the book you realise that a lot of loose ends will not be concluded despite the 600+ pages and the story doesn't seem to be coming towards a climax with 10 pages to go. This book had the makings of a book I wouldn't put down but sadly I wish I hadn't picked it up.

A guilty pleasure
If you are coming to this from her Tudor series, you will find it quite different, her books based on historical figures are quite tame in comparison. In Gregory's purely fictional novels, like this one and the Wideacre series, she lets rip with grotesque and unsympathetic characters, graphic sex scenes and relentless dark deeds done to the goodies. Peppered with descriptions of Tudor dress, diet, law and customs.

Alys is an ex-nun during Henry VIII's rampaging through the monasteries, who is brought into the local lords household for her healing abilities. She tries to stay true to her values, but eventually becomes immersed in the household rivalries and constantly faces exposure as a nun on the run or worse, a witch. And gor blimey, doesn't it turn out she's a beauty so she's got the lord's son to fend off too. I won't say any more or I'll spoil it for you.

If you can get past the unsavoury characters, self-serving actions and sometimes silly/slightly creepy use of magic (both black and white) there is an interesting background here about the fear and unspoken resistance of the populace to Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries; the political machinations within a feudal lord's house in the medieval system during it's last days; and herbalism and old pagan beliefs giving way to the new church.

I had to put the book down a couple of times because it was slightly distasteful here and there but Gregory draws great characters and I became involved in Alys's misguided struggle with her own demons and wanted to know the conclusion. All the characters are believable somehow, despite the torrid plot. Alys's two mentors, one catholic mother and one pagan mother are especially convincing. Gregory does seem to have an axe to grind about catholics and men generally in the novel, but it was definitely a page-turner.

There's a few plot devices such as the use of wax dolls which can be silly or stomach churning, depending on your view.

If you don't mind the salacious tone and a one or two plot strings being left untied at the end, there is a lot to enjoy in this book such as excellent descriptions of a parochial and claustrophic feudal household. And lust, spiritual doubt, betrayals galore and redemption.

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. The plot just seemed random and to be going nowhere, the end was bizarre, the characters just annoying and unlikeable. However the worst thing about this novel for me was the vile, crude, disgusitngly over described sex scenes. Don't get me wrong I am not a prude who doesn't like sex to ever be mentioned in a book but I think there is a line between being a little graphic and pornography which is crossed in this book. I have read books that have fairly graphic moments but they usually add to the story or make you understand the characters a little better. All they did here was confuse the already random plot and make me feel sick. To be honest I just felt like Gregory was seeing how much she could get away with. I did manage to finish the novel but only because I had faith in Gregory and thought it would pick up - I was wrong. To be honest I was glad to close the book for the last time.If you are new to Gregorys work then do not start with this book as it is certainly not her best. I would not recommend this book to anyone