The Summer of the Danes

by Ellis Peters
Category: "Fiction - Mystery"
Pages:245
Year of Publication:1991
Date Added:08/28/2008
Date Read:08/22/2015
Notes:Unlike the other books in the series, this one wasn't a mystery. Cadfael is sent as an interpreter for another friar on a mission into Wales. They arrive in the midst of a fraternal civil war. Cadwaldr, displaced by his brother Owain, has hired a force of Danes from Ireland to help him regain his lands. Owain takes his army to face the Danes but wants to resolve the issue without conflict. Cadfael is captured and held by the Danes along with Heledd, a Welsh woman who is fleeing from an arranged marriage. Cadwaldr renegs on his deal with the Danes, hoping his brother will oust them from Wales, but the Danes retaliate by taking Cadwaldr captive. He is forced to pay the agreed-upon price for their participation. Men loyal to him attempt to free him, but are repulsed, although the recapture the girl. But before the Danes sail off, she runs away again and joins one of the Danes with whom she fell in love. Cadfael is nothing more than an observer of all this.
My Rating: 5

Reviews for The Summer of the Danes

Review - Summer of the Danes, The

An OK story, but not the mystery I was expecting. Nor did I much care about the participants in the almost civil war.
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