Brother Cadfael’s penance

About “Brother Cadfael’s penance”

In the fall of 1145, Philip FitzRobert, the younger son of Robert of Gloucester, switches sides in the eight-year struggle for the English crown, joining King Stephen and betraying his father and aunt, the Empress Maud. He hands over key garrisons, including the castle at Faringdon, commanded by the shrewd and ruthless Brian de Soulis. Some men in the castle refuse to support the betrayal, and thirty knights are taken as hostages by the king. One of them, Olivier de Bretagne, disappears without a trace. Brother Cadfae is determined to find and free him, but his only lead—Brian de Soulis—has been murdered. The 1994 novel by Edith Pargeter follows Cadfael's search for answers.