The Wise Woman [Paperback]

Philippa Gregory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 1994

After her abbey is burned, Alys is summoned to the castle and tempted by luxury and desire for Lord Hugo, but his shrewd wife is watching, and Alys must use her powers to fend off accusations of witchcraft and lust. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of the Wideacre trilogy presents a historical romance about a 16th-century English witch.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This new novel by the author of Wideacre (S. & S., 1987) and other popular historical fiction profiles a woman versed in charms, conjuring, and fortune-telling who nonetheless falls into catastrophic misfortunes time after time. Escaping from an English convent, young Alys learns the arts of healing and magic from the "wise woman" who takes her in. Her struggle to find an independent life takes her among an array of characters, including a mediocre lover, a sickly old man still very much in control of the lives around him, and two challenging women: Marach and Mother Hildebrande. Gregory weaves a vivid tapestry of life in the 16th century, including plenty of sex, as the narrative strains toward a not-unexpected end.
- M.E. Chitty, Fairchild International Lib. Inst. , Plainfield, N.J.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (December 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067179275X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671792756
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,737,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Kenya in 1954, Philippa Gregory moved to England with her family and was educated in Bristol and at the National Council for the Training of Journalists course in Cardiff. She worked as a senior reporter on the Portsmouth News, and as a journalist and producer for BBC radio.

Philippa obtained a BA degree in history at the University of Sussex in Brighton and a PhD at Edinburgh University in 18th-century literature. Her first novel, Wideacre, was written as she completed her PhD and became an instant world wide bestseller. On its publication, she became a full-time writer, and now lives with her family on a small farm in the North of England.

Her knowledge of gothic 18th century novels led to Philippa writing Wideacre, which was followed by a haunting sequel, The Favoured Child, and the delightful happy ending of the trilogy: Meridon. This novel was listed in Feminist Book Fortnight and for the Romantic Novel of the Year at the same time - one of the many instances of Philippa's work appealing to very different readers.

The trilogy was followed by The Wise Woman, a dazzling, disturbing novel of dark powers and desires set against the rich tapestry of the Reformation, and by Fallen Skies, an evocative realistic story set after the First World War. Her novel A Respectable Trade took her back to the 18th century where her knowledge of the slave trade and her home town of Bristol produced a haunting novel of slave trading and its terrible human cost. This is the only modern novel to explore the tragedies of slavery in England itself, and features a group of kidnapped African people trying to find their freedom in the elegant houses of 18th century Clifton. Gregory adapted her book for a highly acclaimed BBC television production which won the prize for drama from the Commission for Racial Equality and was shortlisted for a BAFTA for the screenplay.

Next came two of Gregory's best-loved novels, Earthly Joys and Virgin Earth, based on the true-life story of father and son John Tradescant working in the upheaval of the English Civil War. In these works Gregory pioneered the genre which has become her own: fictional biography, the true story of a real person brought to life with painstaking research and passionate verve.

The flowering of this new style was undoubtedly The Other Boleyn Girl, a runaway best-seller which stormed the US market and then went worldwide telling the story of the little-known sister to Anne Boleyn. Now published in 26 countries with more than a million copies in print in the US alone, this is becoming a classic historical novel, winning the Parker Pen Novel of the Year award 2002, and the Romantic Times fictional biography award. The Other Boleyn Girl was adapted for the BBC as a single television drama and a film is now in production starring Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn, Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn and Eric Bana as Henry VIII.

A regular contributor to newspapers and magazines, with short stories, features and reviews, Philippa is also a frequent broadcaster and a regular contestant on Round Britain Quiz for BBC Radio 4 and the Tudor expert for Channel 4's Time Team.

She lives in the North of England with her husband and two children and in addition to interests that include riding, walking, skiing and gardening (an interest born from research into the Tradescant family for her novel, Virgin Earth), she also runs a small charity building wells in school gardens in The Gambia. Fifty-six wells have been built by UK donors to date.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Spellbinding Phillipa Gregory Book!, February 6, 2006

By 

Lisa Buckley (Carlsbad, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wise Woman (Paperback)

Having already read The Other Boleyn Girl, The Queen's Fool, The Virgin's Lover and Earthly Joys, I hardly thought this one would compare. How wrong I was! I was so captivated by Alys', the main character's, plight. I was at first outraged and then empathetic of her decisions, remembering she was a mere immature seventeen year-old. How can anyone fault her - given the medieval times this story would have taken place. I was captivated by the politics, religion (which were both one and the same), witchcraft, and especially the sexuality, which was quite descriptive (dare I say Hot?)

The end of the story was the biggest surprise of all. So tender and moving were the last pages, I re-read them and teared up both times. I immediately wrote this review, my first ever.

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, frightening historical fiction, December 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wise Woman (Paperback)

This book is extremely dark - its subject matter is pretty bleak and the characters are often rather twisted... but it is nonetheless a riveting read. The Wise Woman tells the story of Alys, an orphan who has been shuffled from house to house throughout her childhood. Alys' first home is with Morach, her town's local witch. Morach is cruel to Alys, and Alys soon finds refuge in the local nunnery. As she prepares to take her final vows, the nunnery is burnt to the ground. Alys flees the fire - leaving her sisters in Christ to burn to death - and is forced to start her life anew. Her travels lead her to the castle near her home, working as an apothecary to the lord of the manor. There she meets the lord's attractive son, discovers her own witchy powers... and finds herself sorely tempted to break her vows. This book is a fscainting story, very well told... the only downside is the sexual imagery is very explicit, and often rather perverse. If you can overlook that... this book is great!

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Part Steven King, Part Historical novel, April 16, 2007

By 

Jennifer J. Jesseph "J3" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wise Woman (Paperback)

OK, I really love her books, but this one really was early on in her career. It starts out well enough with the main character, Elys, being an escapee of a nunnary that was ransacked. She escapes and does not aid her mentor and adopted mother which then haunts Elys. So, she goes back to her old "mother" who is a wise woman, healer etc. and begins to dally in the dark arts. Elys gets to go to the big castle to aide the ailing master ((not the king of England)) but the big land keeper of that area. She gains importance in the castle and then takes to his son and more dark arts follow.

Gregory really is a master storyteller and I do love her work, but I didn't love all of this book. I mean, when Alys' wax figures become real and when an important character has a wax miscarraige, due to her dark arts, I find this the Steve King part of the book and completely rediculous.

This book reminds me most of Wideacre and The King's Fool, but with an really odd, rather science fiction kind of twist.

That said, I did like the ending, which I won't reveal, and I do recommend you check out the book and read it, but skim the wax doll parts as I think all of that just detracts from the book. I wish she could rewrite and edit all that out, and she'd have a smashing book.