The Englishwoman Edith Pargeter wasn’t formally a historian. Yet under the pseudonym Ellis Peters, she created one of the most popular detective series—tightly intertwined with important historical events that shook 12th-century England and Wales, from where Pargeter’s ancestors came. “The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael” is both a political detective story—since its plot unfolds against the backdrop of a civil war between supporters of Matilda, the legitimate claimant to the throne, and King Stephen of Blois, who seized the throne by force—and classic intimate stories involving the residents of the town of Shrewsbury and its surroundings, as well as the inhabitants of the Benedictine abbey in Shrewsbury. Here, in his later years, retired an old crusader who had seen the world as a soldier. Taking the name Brother Cadfael, he decided to live out the rest of his days peacefully—serving God and helping people as a healer. But instead, Cadfael, a subtle connoisseur of human souls and a man of rich life experience, is constantly drawn into investigating all kinds of crimes—and not only saving bodies, but also souls… The eighth volume of the Chronicles takes place in 1140, when Shrewsbury Abbey is disturbed by night visions experienced by a young monk. The sinister dreams of “the Devil’s Novice” attract attention when the monastery is found to have the body of the bishop’s messenger. Brother Cadfael has to uncover the connection between nightmare and reality…