The Devil's Novice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #8)

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The Devil's Novice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #8)

3.99 of 5 stars 3.99 · rating details · 1,825 ratings · 49 reviews

In the autumn of 1140 the Benedictine monastery at Shrewsbury finds its new novice Meriet Aspley a bit disturbing. The younger son of a prominent family, Meriet is meek and biddable by day, but his sleep is rife with nightmares so violent that they earn him the name of "Devil's Novice". Shunned by the other monks, Aspley attracts the concern of Brother Cadfael. Then a body...more

Paperback, 288 pages

Published February 1st 1997 by Mysterious Press (first published 1983)

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Apr 20, 2010 Joyce Lagow rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

8th in the Brother Caedfel series.[return][return]A young man, Meiret Aspley, who is obviously on tense terms with his father, is received into the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul as a candidate for the community. Meanwhile, there is a missing cleric from the house of the powerful bishop of Winchester, one who was an envoy to the Northern baron, the Earl of Chester, whom bishop Henry, the King� s brother, is courting as an ally for Stephen in his war with the Empress Maude for the English crown;...more 8th in the Brother Caedfel series.[return][return]A young man, Meiret Aspley, who is obviously on tense terms with his father, is received into the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul as a candidate for the community. Meanwhile, there is a missing cleric from the house of the powerful bishop of Winchester, one who was an envoy to the Northern baron, the Earl of Chester, whom bishop Henry, the King� s brother, is courting as an ally for Stephen in his war with the Empress Maude for the English crown; no one has seen the canon since he left the manor of Aspley, the family home of the young new novice.[return][return]While fervent in his desires to rush the usual procedure and take committing vows early, Meiret is not the world� s most suitable candidate for monkhood. In addition to personality characteristics such as aloofness, Meiret has troubling dreams at night, which are so loud and so disturbing that the other novices become afraid, fearing he is possessed by demons, calling him the Devil� s novice. Meiret� s cause is not advanced when he attacks the officious Brother Jerome for taking and burning a keepsake that Meiret had under his mattress.[return][return]Caedfel journeys to Aspley to find out more about Meiret, and comes across a young heiress who has her cap set for Meiret despite his oblivion to her presence in any capacity more than a former playmate. Caedfel and Isouda become co-conspirators to find out what is troubling Meiret. Then the horse belonging to the missing envoy is found; that and other discoveries throw suspicion squarely on Meiret.[return][return]Another good book in the series of the late-to-vocation Brother Caedfel, Benedictine lay brother and master of herbs at the abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul. This is not a heavyweight series, but rather a gentle excursion into the Police procedural genre set in the 12th century. Peters� writing is never hurried, and her characters are not complex although well-drawn. What makes the series interesting is the political history that is seamlessly interwoven into each of the stories. It was a terrible time, of civil war, in England, and the ordinary people were, as usual, the ones who suffered. More than most, this book depends on the shifting alliances of that war for its main story-telling impetus. Peters does an excellent, although understated, job of depicting how the actions of high lords influenced events on the local level.[return][return]Highly recommended.(less)

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May 18, 2013 Valerie is currently reading it

I need a better copy of this volume--the cover on this one is becoming more than a little disheveled.

This book starts in mid-September, 1140, with a serious discussion of whether the monasteries should accept child oblates: children given to the monasteries at very young ages, some as soon as they're weaned. The practice is approved in the Rule, but there has been significant discussion of ending it by this time, and Abbot Radulfus consults with his fellow monks, and then decides to change the p...more I need a better copy of this volume--the cover on this one is becoming more than a little disheveled.

This book starts in mid-September, 1140, with a serious discussion of whether the monasteries should accept child oblates: children given to the monasteries at very young ages, some as soon as they're weaned. The practice is approved in the Rule, but there has been significant discussion of ending it by this time, and Abbot Radulfus consults with his fellow monks, and then decides to change the policy, accepting no novices below the age of about sixteen.

But there doesn't seem to be any problem with Meriet Aspley, who is nineteen already, lettered, healthy, and comes at his own request.

Soon, however, doubts arise. It's somewhat ironic that communities named for singularity can't cope with solitary, self-sufficient characters. Meriet would be fine, even in a religious life that he isn't really suited for, if he could be alone. But that he can't, in a Benedictine monastery. Even the abbot doesn't really have private quarters--and the general choir monks have privacy only so far as their neighbors' courtesy extends.

Worse, Meriet suffers from nightmares, evidently stemming from some trauma--but he can't remember the dreams, and won't discuss what trauma they might have arisen from.

All of which makes it more plausible when he becomes a suspect in the murder of a clerical envoy. But Brother Cadfael points out that he may be covering for someone else...who may also not be guilty.

This episode would make a very good handbook if you found yourself needing to make charcoal the old-fashioned way, because there's a very clear description of how to do so. It also deals with the familial interactions of people who've cut assarts into the Long Forest. Most especially, it deals with the problems of children who are not the favorites, and who have to struggle to get attention. In this case it's even more complicated, because Meriet also loves his brother, and is more than willing to sacrifice his own life to protect him...whether Nigel wants or needs that, or not.

One note that disturbed me is the unwarranted assumption that all humans are depressed by rainy weather. I love rainy weather as much as the parched land does--so what does that make me?(less)

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Nov 11, 2010 Cecily Felber rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone!

This next Brother Cadfael offering delves into a tangled family conflict when a young man presents himself to the abbey as a novice--but is clearly not only unsuited for such a life but also apparently hiding some terrible secret.

Brother Cadfael (pronounced Cad-file) has definitely entered the ranks of great fiction detectives alongside Sherlock Holmes and Lord Peter Wimsey. But these stories are more than just murder mysteries in medieval drag. Ellis Peters actually lived in Shrewsbury, England...more

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Feb 23, 2010 Sarai rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, historical

Kirkus Reviews
Another civilized foray into the 12th-century Benedictine monastery at Shrewbury, where Brother Cadfael (The Virgin in the Ice, etc.) continues to practice his skills with herbs, nostrums, and people in trouble. The primary poor soul this time: Meriet, younger son of a local landowner, who wishes passionately to join the order, to leave behind his stern father and his manly brother Nigel. Why is Meriet, a non-monk type, so insistent about his vocation? Could it have to do with the...more

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Sep 15, 2008 Ron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

A typical offering of the series: missing and dead people, young lovers, misguided authorities and only Cadfael to sort it all out.

Cadfael series: excellent historical fiction. Ellis Peters draws the reader into the twelfth century with modern story telling but holds us there with a richness of detail which evokes a time and place which might as well be fictional. Though the foreground of each chronicle is a murder mystery, behind it a nation and a culture are woven in a wondrous tapestry.

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Apr 16, 2013 Lydia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Ellis Peters is a details first, prose second sort of author. The Devil's Novice is hilariously overwrought, pausing to describe in detail how each young incidental character is yet more lovely than the last, but makes up for it with a well realized and strongly convincing historical setting and characters who, past the purple prose, are endearingly quirky, even under the looming threat of murder. Most refreshing of all the characters on offer this roun...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Frode rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was another fine novel by Ellis Peters with Cadfael in the thick of things. The crime is not known immediately, and the reason is not identified until the last few pages. It is clear the person making the confession is not guilty, but just who is the real murderer does not become clear until the end. I did surmise who it might be before the end, but the threads directing my thoughts were tenous. Anyway, it was a good book with some interesting characters and a nicely unfolding plot with a f...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, england, medieval

The Abbey agrees to accept a young man as a novice who desires to take his vows as a monk. By day Meriet is extremely eager and sets himself to doing everything asked of him. However, by night he is tortured by dreams and his screaming wakes everyone up, even though he sleeps through it all and has no knowledge in the morning of the disturbance he's caused. These nightly ravings earn him the unfortunate nickname of devil's novice. Within a few days of Meriet's arrival at the Abbey, the Abbey le...more

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May 20, 2010 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2003, 2010, reread-books

1st Recorded Reading: July 2003

Once again Brother Cadfael saves the day, solves murder most foul (is there any other kind?) and furthers the course of deserving young love. He is lucky that Abbot Radulfus does not make him stay at the Abbey like most of the other monks, or else it would have to be someone else solving all the murders in and around Shrewsbury. He is also lucky that, as the abbey herbalist, he has an isolated workshop (still within the Abbey precincts, to be sure) where various ch...more 1st Recorded Reading: July 2003

Once again Brother Cadfael saves the day, solves murder most foul (is there any other kind?) and furthers the course of deserving young love. He is lucky that Abbot Radulfus does not make him stay at the Abbey like most of the other monks, or else it would have to be someone else solving all the murders in and around Shrewsbury. He is also lucky that, as the abbey herbalist, he has an isolated workshop (still within the Abbey precincts, to be sure) where various characters come to confer with him while Cadfael minds the brews and such that he makes out of his herbs. (For those not wishing to read further, though I do take care not to give out any spoilers, I will note that I did enjoy reading this book, though I was somewhat unsatisfyed with the ending; Ellis Peters did not wind up all the lose ends this time.)

In the late fall of the Year of Our Lord 1140, all is calm in Shrewsbury and in Shropshire (despite the civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda); and application is made to the Abbey by two landowners to accept their sons into the Abbey. One application is rejected (the son is four years old; and while there is provision in the Benedictine Rule for raising young children, and indeed such has always been done in this particular Abbey, it is decidied that perhaps the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul at Shrewsbury should wait until a given person is of age before accepting an application to join the Order. The other application involves a young man in his late teens, and that application is accepted.

So Meriet Aspley, the younger son of country nobleman Leoric Aspley, enters the order as a novice, and immediately requests that he become a full-fledged monk immediately; Abbot Radulfus notes that normally, a year of being a novice is required, but that the time can be shortened if it is found suitable. But Meriet appears to be a troubled soul, and has nightmares involving screaming out in his sleep; the other novices begin to whisper that Meriet is possessed, and is ‘the devil’s novice’.

Brother Cafael has noticed that, although Meriet insists he wants to become a monk as soon as possible, he really does not seem to have the dispoitiion to be a monk, and wonders why Meriet would choose of his own free will to take this course. By the Abbot’s leave, he visits the Aspey family, and meets Meriet’s elder brother Nigel (the favored son), Nigel’s fiance Roswitha, stunningly beautiful (and she knows it), Roswitha’s brother Janyn, an easygoing man and Nigel’s best friend; and finally, Leoric’s ward Isouda, a young heiress to two neighboring manors. Leoric, a stiff and upright man of rigid morals, refuses to discuss Meriet’s choice. He insists that if his son is determined to become a monk, Leoric will not have him back. Nor can he suggest any reason for Meriet’s choice in the first place.

Soon afterward the obligatory dead body makes its mute appearance, and Brother Cadfael sets himself to who killed the man, and why; he also divines that there are secrets within secrets, and, being Brother Cadfael, by the end of the book he has uncovered all.

I did enjoy this book; and I am curious to see why the author saw fit to leave one dangling thread that did not get tied up neatly into the usual package. Perhaps the next book in the series (which I will be reading, or re-reading, of course) will clear up things.(less)

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Jan 06, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael series - set around 1000/1100, a Welsh man who had been with the Crusades, soldier/sailor, loved women etc settles down to retirement as a Benedictine monk, working as an apothecary within the abbey and the community, and assisting the sheriff with mysteries. He's a really wholesome character who understands people and life, not at all narrow and irritating. There is also a series of movies made based on these books with Derek Jacobi playing Brother Cadfael

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Sep 03, 2009 Sandra Strange rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, mysteries

These suspenseful stories include pinches of romance, devotion, and humor, as well as truly unique characters. The mysteries use as background superb portrayals of 12th Century England. The author is a noted Medieval scholar. Positive. Caution: the series is aimed at adults, not adolescents. Many themes of these mystery novels are ADULT themes, including rape, abuse of various sorts, etc. They are all positive, ultimately.

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Oct 17, 2012 Dillwynia Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wanted a light, well written book & this is exactly what I got.

I have always enjoyed the historical context of the civil war between Stephen & Maude in the 1100's & this particular novel advanced that knowledge as it becomes specifically entwined in the plot.

I was correct in my deductions, but I could also see how it would be a surprise as the important reason for the crime is not bleedingly obvious - which also stumped Cadfaedel as well.

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Apr 09, 2009 Lynne-marie rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Benedictine monks of Shrewsbury are this time involved with someone who has killed a priest and Cadfael must sort out the chaff from the wheat, a task made less easy by the local dealer in nostrums and false medecines. Our good spinner of yarns, Ellis Peters, is once again in form using the medieval world as his back-drop and his gentle insights into human nature to open our eyes a little each time we read.

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Aug 20, 2011 Donna rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-suspense, unfinished

Although I enjoyed the first book I read in the Brother Cadfael series, I got side-tracted halfway through The Devil's Novice and just haven't wanted to go back to it. Other books keep beckoning. I'm not sure if the fault is in me or in the book itself, but it seems clear now that I'm not likely to finish this one any time soon.

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Oct 17, 2012 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyed this book as I do all the Brother Cadfael chronicles. This one moves along at a good pace and is even slightly surprising in the end when the mystery is solved. There was even a map that was some help in keeping straight just where things were happening. I will read more of these.

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Jul 31, 2010 Arlene Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-mystery

Ah, my first Brother Cadfael. To him and Ellis Peters I owe my lifelong love of historical mysteries. A lot of authors have "If you like Brother Cadfael you'll like...." on their covers but very few have ever come close to Ellis' hero and his stories. Both he and his creator are missed.

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Oct 19, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: detective-stories, books-read-in-2011

Another great medieval murder mystery. Sufficiently different from the TV adaptation to make the book a worthwhile read even for those familiar with the series. As usual, the book tells a richer, more fully developed story that the TV episode and presents more well-balanced characters.

Berringer gets a bigger role here than in the TV version as does the Abbot. Oddly, many of the characters in the TV version are made more hateful/less simpathetic and many of the character and place names are alte...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Hazel rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters is a wonderful set of mysteries that take place in 12th century England. Ellis Peters does a wonderful job of describing all the characters and she is a great mystery writer. The cases are complicated enough to make them interesting.

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Oct 15, 2012 M Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Another good yarn in the Cadfael Chronicles and with some completely unexpected twists for those who, like me, do not remember the back and forth history of the wars between Stephen and Matilda for the English crown. I still wish that most of these stories leaned less on the affairs de coeur of adolescents, however.

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Aug 09, 2010 Ryan Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Those who see my booklists will note that I tend to like mysteries that don't read like traditional mysteries. Cadfael gets drawn into these mysteries in such a way that it doesn't feel very contrived (only once in a while do I think he becomes a little too un-Benedictine). The book itself reads like a good novel, the characters are real and grow and change during the novel, and I enjoy the relationship that Hugh and Cadfael have (so much better than the rather more antagonistic relationship por...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-mystery, time-medieval

Although it is common for Brother Cadfael to help young couples, this volume was unique in involving relationships at the father and son level of the family as well. (view spoiler)

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Apr 11, 2010 Cat rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, fiction

Ellis Peter's evocation of a particular time and place, in English history, is masterful. I always learn something new when I read her books.

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Jun 14, 2009 Gwen Burrow rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Decent plot and all, but Ellis Peters (pen name) is obviously a female who enjoys describing her studly male characters. Got tedious.

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Mar 05, 2011 Miriam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, mystery, series

Another great book. I was glad to see Brother Mark again; he is one of my favorite supporting characters.

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Aug 23, 2012 Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another enjoyable Cadfael tale. Very absorbing with good plot twists and turns. Vannot fault them for an easy laid back read.

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Jan 16, 2012 Daniel Ribera rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: review

Canon Eluard's young cleric, Peter Clemence, has gone missing. Meriet Aspley, second, and lesser son of Leoric Aspley, has entered the Abbey as a novice. Something is not right. How will Cadfael sort out politics, a flirtatious bride, a novice with nightmares, and just plain bad parenting?

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Feb 13, 2009 Lemongrass rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

All the right ingredients, mixed nicely.

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Feb 14, 2013 Rgauthie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Standard Cadfael. A good yarn.

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Nov 30, 2010 amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Not her best.

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Dec 12, 2010 TJ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Nothing earth shattering, but still a fun read

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About Ellis Peters

A pseudonym used by Edith Pargeter.

Edith Mary Pargeter, BEM (September 28, 1913 in Horsehay, Shropshire, England –October 14, 1995) was a prolific author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translations of Czech classics; she is probably best known for her murder mysteries, both historical and modern. Born in the village of Horsehay...more

More about Ellis Peters...

Books by Ellis Peters

A Morbid Taste for Bones (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #1)

The Leper of Saint Giles (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #5)

One Corpse Too Many (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #2)

Monk's Hood (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #3)

St. Peter's Fair (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael #4)

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