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Gilles of Bec and The Cage Full of Birds
‘It is through suffering that good and evil are manifested. We cannot distinguish the good from the wicked unless we have first endured trials and shown strength.’ Gilles of Bec, Prior of Stiveton.
In 1138, Gilles, a monk barely into manhood, is sent by the great Benedictine abbey of Bec in Normandy to its estate of Stivetun in Berchescire. His charge seems to oversee the farming of the abbey’s lands and to cure the souls of its peasant tenants.
But England is in a state of political and religious upheaval, a morass that draws the naïve Gilles into a series of dilemmas which will test his ingenuity and his faith. He must contend with the self-serving Bishops of Wyncestre and Sarum; Alvric, the obdurate reeve of the village; and the seductive Maud of Walingeford. And then there is the guileful Peter of Waneting, his old mentor from Bec, who is forever shifting shape.
Gilles’ sense of justice and truth thrusts him to the forefront of calamitous events and compels him to make choices that will seal the fate of some and the salvation of many.
The Cage Full of Birds is story of real people who lived and struggled in The Anarchy of twelfth century England; a stirring tale of self-discovery, the triumph of hope over doubt and, ultimately, of good over evil.
In 1138, Gilles, a monk barely into manhood, is sent by the great Benedictine abbey of Bec in Normandy to its estate of Stivetun in Berchescire. His charge seems to oversee the farming of the abbey’s lands and to cure the souls of its peasant tenants.
But England is in a state of political and religious upheaval, a morass that draws the naïve Gilles into a series of dilemmas which will test his ingenuity and his faith. He must contend with the self-serving Bishops of Wyncestre and Sarum; Alvric, the obdurate reeve of the village; and the seductive Maud of Walingeford. And then there is the guileful Peter of Waneting, his old mentor from Bec, who is forever shifting shape.
Gilles’ sense of justice and truth thrusts him to the forefront of calamitous events and compels him to make choices that will seal the fate of some and the salvation of many.
The Cage Full of Birds is story of real people who lived and struggled in The Anarchy of twelfth century England; a stirring tale of self-discovery, the triumph of hope over doubt and, ultimately, of good over evil.
473 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 23, 2025
Waiting for volume 2!
Stephen and Matilda are still fighting for the Throne and we are in muddy unimportant Steventon which however is in the thick of the fighting and plundering, and full of Norman-hating peasants and with a prior who naively finds himself in the affairs of the great.
I live in Steventon, but would find this a ggripping historical novel even if I didn’t.
Stephen and Matilda are still fighting for the Throne and we are in muddy unimportant Steventon which however is in the thick of the fighting and plundering, and full of Norman-hating peasants and with a prior who naively finds himself in the affairs of the great.
I live in Steventon, but would find this a ggripping historical novel even if I didn’t.
December 13, 2025
This book - the first in a series of four - really brings history to life! I can’t wait to find out what happens to the hapless Gilles next.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews