The Leper of Saint Giles
First edition
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| Author | Ellis Peters |
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| Series | The Cadfael Chronicles |
| Genre | Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
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Publication date
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1981 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) & audio book |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 8170356 |
| Preceded by | Saint Peter's Fair |
| Followed by | The Virgin in the Ice |
The Leper of Saint Giles is a medieval mystery novel by Ellis Peters, set in October 1139. It is the fifth novel in The Cadfael Chronicles and was first published in 1981.
The book includes a map of the Abbey, the town of Shrewsbury, St. Giles, the winding River Severn and its small local brooks, and places in the environs mentioned in this story and others in the series. It was adapted for television in 1994 by Central for ITV.
Two landed families arrange a marriage between an older baron and a young woman who loves someone else. The groom does not arrive at the altar. It falls to Cadfael to find his murderer, while the main suspect of the sheriff hides in the house for lepers.
This novel was ranked number 42 in the 1990 list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time by the British Crime Writers Association. Citing the public confrontation and the main character's skills at deduction, one reviewer said it was "another Peters delight, featuring vital characters, a beautifully organised puzzle, and history made real." Another reviewer felt that "predictable plotting is amply compensated for by the author's wonderful re-creation of the period".
The story takes place over four days in October 1139. Shrewsbury Abbey is scheduled to host the wedding of Baron Huon de Domville and Lady Iveta de Massard. Brother Cadfael, while restocking medicines at Saint Giles, the abbey's lazar house, sees both bride and bridegroom arrive: Domville is sixty years old, fat, and cruel, as Cadfael sees when the Baron lashes with his riding crop at the lepers begging him for alms. Iveta is barely eighteen, being chaperoned by her legal guardians, her uncle Godfrid Picard and his wife, Agnes.
Iveta is secretly in love with Joscelin Lucy, one of Domville's three squires. Cadfael interrupts an assignation between them in Cadfael's workshop, and tries to cover for them when Agnes bursts in to collect Iveta. Joscelin tells Cadfael that Iveta is being forced to marry against her will; she is the heiress to an enormous honour, and Domville and the Picards have bargained between themselves to divide it after she is married off. Agnes complains to Domville, who dismisses Joscelin from his service, accusing him of theft. Joscelin denies it, but his belongings are searched and the item found (though Cadfael suspects it was planted). Joscelin leaves with the sheriff, but at the bridge he breaks free of his guards and escapes into the River Severn.
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