The Wise Woman

I no longer have any excuse to go to the library and pass by the G-H shelves empty-handed.  And if you're also a his-fic fan, or plan on becoming one, the same rule applies because I am now a one-book fanatic of Philippa Gregory.  I don't mind if the next one I read is not half as good as Gregory's The Wise Woman.  But I'm secretly sure it will be at least that!

The Wise Woman is Alys, a refugee nun straight from the sack of her peaceful, wealthy abbey in 16th-century England.  Alys had joined the abbey to rid herself of her mean but wise mentor, Morach who raised her just barely to a life in abject poverty.  And as the abbey burns, no thanks to Hugo, son of Lord Hugh, Alys has no place else to go but back to Morach and her devilish ways where she fully, though reluctantly, takes on the persona of a wise woman herself... all until she is summoned by Lord Hugh for her magical healing powers.  Now, not only will Alys have to bring Lord Hugh to full recovery to avoid a charge of witchcraft, which is magic inspired by the devil, but she may also have to avoid his son Hugo who destroyed the life of comfort, love and happiness she will never know again.  As Alys weaves her way through her trials from this point on, she becomes pretty darn wicked - you might even want to call her evil.  After being ripped from her former convent life, she has taken a complete turn to the darkside - since she can no longer be surrounded by good in the fullest sense of the word, what is left but to fall from grace, and finally, to become what is most feared?

I loved Alys' decent and all the terrible decisions she makes - her plotting and scheming to drive everyone else to misery and death.  Even still, and I know plenty of Amazon reviewers disagree with this, I still saw the human in her.  She became unstoppable, cold, calculating and cruel.  To a point.  And I can't complain about the pacing of the book either - just as unstoppable as Alys!  Ms. Gregory really knows her suspense, and this was a read that I really looked forward to every morning and evening.  Intermixed in the threads of foreboding terror and grotesque images, the magical realism (for lack of better term) that brings wax dolls to life and turns babies into mush was as unexpected as the surprise ending, and it was all I could do to put the book down every day.  Although I had a crazy, crazy week so that had to happen pretty often.  So, in this case, judge a book by its totally-gorgeous cover, and don't pass the G-H shelves without this one.