From Library Journal
This collection of 12 connected stories about the Abbess Hodierna of Shaston is by the late British author who made her literary debut at age 78 in 1976 with the Arthurian trilogy, The Three Damosels. Set in a 12th-century England inhabited by real historical characters, these historical fantasies portray a beautiful, smart feminist. The simplistic plots and stock characters are reminiscent of Lillian Jackson Braun's innocuous The Cat Who mysteries. Not an essential purchase.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Here are 15 of the late Chapman's tales of the Abbess Hodierna of Shaston Abbey in twelfth-century England, deftly woven into an episodic but eminently readable novel. The Abbess--no cloistered lady she--shuttles back and forth between England and the Holy Land, battling demons, solving crimes, and aiding lovers. Chapman's tone is light, her historical scholarship impeccable, her feminism unmistakable (Chapman was one of the first women to receive an Oxford degree), and the pervasiveness of her Christian belief nearly complete. Chapman managed to publish some of these tales after launching her literary career at age 78, but most will be new to most readers; altogether, they constitute a delight for discerning readers of historical fantasy. If Dorothy Sayers had turned her talents to historical fantasy, the results might have read rather like this admirable little volume.
Roland Green
