Title: The Wise Woman          

Author: Philippa Gregory  

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Touchstone

Format: Paperback

Pages: 520

Rating: 3/5 stars

*Warning: Mature Content. Parents please be advised*

Synopsis (Goodreads):

#1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory weaves an unforgettable tale of a young woman’s sorcery and desire in Henry VIII’s England, where magic, lust, and power are forever intertwined.

Growing up as an abandoned outcast on the moors, young Alys’ only company is her cruel foster mother, Morach, the local wise woman who is whispered to practice the dark arts. Alys joins a nunnery to escape the poverty and loneliness she has felt all her life, but all too soon her sanctuary is destroyed. King Henry VIII’s followers burn the holy place to the ground, and Alys only just manages to escape with her life, haunted by the screams of her sisters as they burned to death.

She finds work in a castle not far from where she grew up as an old lord’s scribe, where she falls obsessively in love with his son Hugo. But Hugo is already married to a proud woman named Catherine. Driven to desperation by her desire, she summons the most dangerous powers Morach taught her, but quickly the passionate triangle of Alys, Hugo, and Catherine begins to explode, launching them into uncharted sexual waters. The magic Alys has conjured now has a life of its own—a life that is horrifyingly and disastrously out of control.

Is she a witch? Since heresy means the stake, and witchcraft the rope, Alys is in mortal danger, treading a perilous path between her faith and her own power.

Review:

So I went into this book really excited as I love Philippa Gregory and I love her books on the War of the Roses and the Tudor era. And while this book does take place during the Tudor era, it’s not part of the series. I still bought it hoping it would catch me like the series did. And I’m sad to say it didn’t.

I’m not sure if it’s because I had high hopes and it let me down, or I just didn’t fall in love with the character, but I just could not connect with this book.

The novel follows Alys, a young woman who used to be a nun but is now working as a wise woman. This is a dangerous profession during a time that many women were accused of witchcraft. When Alys is told to work in a noble house, she gets swept up in political intrigue and gossip and drama.

I didn’t really like Alys as a character. I thought she was going to be a sweet character, but I found her annoying and couldn’t connect with her. The other characters in the book were also kinda weird. The plot developed alright, but the ending was super strange and it left me unsatisfied. The book is also has a lot of mature content and explicit scenes, just as a warning to the young readers!

Overall, it was an alright read, just not as captivating as I hoped!

Happy reading!