The Anchoress of Shere - ExPaul MoorecraftIn 1329, Christine Carpenter, an actual personage who lived in the village of Shere in the Surrey woodlands, had herself walled up in a church cell to live out her remaining days in prayer and meditation. In our own time, scholars have come to the village to study the legendary "Anchoress of Shere" to try to understand her drastic decision. Among them is Father Michael Duval, whose interest in Christine's story has grown into a psychotic obsession. Duval has kidnapped and killed six young women in an attempt to reproduce his crazed image of Christine. Now he has seized another victim, Marda Stewart, a bright and courageous lady who knows her only chance to survive is to play an intellectual cat-and-mouse game with her maniacal captor.Now THIS is a book! The Anchoress of Shere is a fascinating book. I don't know that I think of it so much as a mystery, although certainly the crime is the anchor of the story, as an captivating story of obsession and insanity versus intellect and courage. The story alternates between 1967 and the 1300's, but each supports, rather than detracts from, the other. This was a one-sitting, don't-interrupt-me, read. The quality of writing is first rate.This is a book I can, and do, highly recommend.2002 Top Ten Read - Obsession and insanity versus intellect and courage.
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Based in rural English town of Shere, a mad priest is consumed with fantasies about a medieval woman (the anchoress) who was entombed in the village church, broke her vows to be with her sister who had suffered under the Lord of the Manor and then was re-entombed. Desiring to re-create the anchoress, the priest begins to write her story as he imagines it. A concurring story of the disappearance of the young Marda Stewart in 1967 is entwined with the story of Christine Carpenter the Anchoress of Shere.This is a chilling story of madness, medieval and present day.
—Sharon
