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The Novice's Tale (A Dame Frevisse Mystery) Mass Market Paperback – November 1, 1993

by
Margaret Frazer (Author)
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Margaret Frazer (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 59 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Series: A Dame Frevisse Mystery (Book 1)
  • Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Berkley; Reissue edition (November 1, 1993)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 042514321X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0425143216
  • Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.6 x 6.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
A novel that depicts medieval nuns as people!
By Nina M. Osier on September 6, 2005
Format: Mass Market Paperback
In 1431, the convent of St. Frideswide's peaceful English September is disrupted by the arrival of a familiar but less-than-welcome guest. Lady Ermentrude, great aunt to the saintly novice Thomasine, always enjoys tormenting the timid girl by threatening to find her a husband before Thomasine can take her final vows. This time she's just two weeks away from that great moment. So when Ermentraude dies of poisoning in St. Fridewide's guest hall, after a hard and hasty ride on some mysterious family business, Thomasine - unlikely murderess though she might make - is nevertheless everyone's prime suspect.

Everyone's, that is, except Sister Frevisse. Although she has to admit that Thomasine does look guilty, the convent's hosteler looks elsewhere instead of accepting the too-easy answer (in contrast to the "crowner" who investigates on the King's behalf, and the rest of Lady Ermentrude's family).

I seldom read mysteries. I picked this one up because of its setting in time and place, hoping for a few hours of amusement; and author Frazer delivered that in spades. Sister Frevisse, a mixture of involuntarily learned worldliness and devotion to the godly, contemplative life that's her choice, is a thoroughly original character. So, in their different ways, are the tale's other major players. What pleased me most, though, was the simple joy of reading a novel that depicts medieval nuns as people. That by itself would have been more than worth the read.

It was easy to forget among the quiet patterns of St. Frideswide's that its nuns were the daughters, granddaughters, sisters of men who held their inheritance by right of arms and battle skills. As nuns and women their daily life held little need for their inheritance of courage, but their blood remembered.

Yes! Exactly!
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23 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Introducing Dame Frevisse, Benedictine nun
By Michele L. Worley on December 8, 2002
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Thomasine D'Evers, a frail 17-year-old, has wanted only the cloister since she was eight years old, driven mostly by intense piety - but partly from fear of the childbirth that killed her mother, and shyness intensified by the isolation of many childhood illnesses. This September of 1431, when Thomasine's final vows will be pronounced at Michaelmas (September 29th), her great-aunt, Lady Ermentrude Fenner, has arrived to pay an unannounced visit.
Lady Ermentrude likes to drop in on the priory's guesthall without warning and *with* a large following of servants, men-at-arms, and obnoxious pets. ("'A monkey,' Domina Edith repeated, sounding as if she had been given a second hundred years in Purgatory.") Since one of Ermentrude's favourite pasttimes is arranging family marriages for fun and profit, every visit is accompanied by rude, half-teasing offers to take Thomasine away and arrange a marriage for her with a vigorous young husband (or an older rich one, whichever strikes her fancy). (Robert Fenner, the one young man who seems to admire Thomasine for herself, has sense enough to hold his tongue rather than let the pushy old lady make things worse - for one thing, he knows he's not a good enough match.)
On this visit, Ermentrude arrived when Thomas Chaucer was visiting his niece, Dame Frevisse. The current events discussion of the war in France - the Hundred Years' War - is interesting; Henry VI is still a little boy. After meeting with the prioress, Dame Frevisse (who's in charge of the guesthall), and Master Chaucer, Ermentrude leaves the bulk of her retinue to settle in while she dashes off for a quick visit to Thomasine's married sister Isobel.Read more ›
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Good plot twists
By A Customer on July 8, 1999
Format: Mass Market Paperback
This was the first Sister Frevisse book I've read, and I can't wait to read more. The characters are vivid, our sleuth multi-dimensional, and the historical details seem well researched (although I'm no medievalist). This book has a great little twist at the end, and will keep you guessing!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A "Tale" of mystery and murder!
By A Customer on November 8, 1998
Format: Mass Market Paperback
I read this book for a junior year British Lit course and found it very interesting. Margaret Frazer brings to reality the life of a novice in a priory in the 1400's which at first glance would seem very ordinary and boring, but proves to be otherwise.
The story follows a few days in the life of Thomasine, a novice at St.Frideswide priory, who is overcome with the fear and anxiety at the appearance of her aunt, Lady Ermentrude, who she does not care for. Lady Ermentrude visits the priory, unannounced and unwelcomed, for reasons that are revealed at the end of the book. Lady Ermentrude is intensely rude, and unliked by almost all who know her. She breaks the rule of silence; she brings all her maids and men and even a monkey! She comes to take Thomasine away from the priory for reasons only known to her. Tomasine seems to be the most likely suspect for the murder until Sister Frevisse does a little detective work on her own and proves this theory wrong.
I really enjoyed this book. It keeps you quessing til the end. If you enjoy mysteries, this is the book for you.
Hope you enjoy it!!
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
The Novice's Tale a suspenceful mystery with a twist.
By A Customer on November 17, 1998
Format: Mass Market Paperback
The Novice's Tale, a book by Margaret Frazer is a suspensful tale interlaced with deception, lurid accounts, and quite frankly strange surprises. Of all places the murder mystery takes place in the quiet walls of a fifteenth century convent, run by a motley bunch of inquisitive nuns who don't quite conform to the sterotypes of the'straitlaced' sister. The narrator and main character is Thomasaine, who is a novice or a so-called 'student nun', hence the title the Novice's Tale.' She had a predilection to becoming a nun, because she was attracted to the profession's quiet, and peacful atmosphere. Sadly, Thomasaine recieved more than she bargained for. Through the innocent perception of Thomasaine the story provides the reader with a very origional twist to the grisly murder mystery. The irony in this situation, is that the credulous Thomasaine believes everything in the convent is and will be innocent, and then in her first begining weeks, as a novice she is forced to witness unholy and most certainly uninnocent acts of murder. The good thing that amounts from the grusome murder or murders, is that, it forced Thomasaine to break out of her anti-society shell. I must say the murder or murders that took place were pretty crazy. Well, crazy enough to push the extremely reserved Thomasaine back into society. In the Novice's Tale any reader will be able enjoy suspence, action, nuns in action, humor , and sentimental value. The Novice's Tale is a easy and fun book to read wether your an addicted book junkie or just a picture browser.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

One Star

didn't even finish

Published 21 days ago by kp
... an abrasive personality descends upon the convent of her great...

An important patroness with an abrasive personality descends upon the convent of her great niece and then abruptly sets off for a relative's home. Read more

Published 4 months ago by ARG
Great, historical mystery with complex characters

A new author for me; I came across it while looking up another author on Stop! You're Killing Me and I'm glad I did. Read more

Published 5 months ago by elf
Clever mystery

Dame Frevisse, a cloistered nun, solves the mystery while strictly limited by when and how she can question witnesses. The setting adds to the puzzle.

Published 5 months ago by Dershs
prose not to my liking.

The author seems to be trying too hard to be "artistic" in her writing. The storyline has merit, but the telling of it is rather wordy, and it becomes boring. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Amazon Customer
She enjoyed her mother's day and birthday gift in one

Marvelous as usual, detailed and accurate to the era. I bought the book for my mother-in-law, who can be picky with her books. Read more

Published 7 months ago by winter flodman
Dame Frevisse Mystery

This was a different sort of mystery. Solved by a nun. Who knew?

Published 10 months ago by G. Mac
Five Stars

Great. used for school. I highly recommend this book.

Published 12 months ago by Rexis
Five Stars

A very good book.

Published 13 months ago by Carla Lott
I Do Like a Medieval Mystery

When I grow weary of non fiction, or hard SciFi, it's restful to read about murder & mayhem in a convent, cloister, seminary, abbey, or some medieval town. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Faith Colleen Carr

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