Thursday, October 20, 2016

A Day and a Life

A Day and a Life by Penelope Wilcock is the ninth and final volume of her Hawk and Dover books. The series has followed the daily life and  is set in a 14th-century Yorkshire abbey, from events significant (the arrival of a new abbot) and mundane (the cook really isn't very good). After coming to know and love so many characters,  I picked up this book with a mixture of eagerness and regret. I was excited to read more, but this was it. There wouldn't be any more stories.
Unlike the short-story format of the first two books, or the slow development in Remember Me, A Day and a Life covers a single day at St. Alcuin's. Featuring most of the characters we've come to know and love--and introducing some new ones as well-- the book is a wonderful example of character-driven storytelling.
As with all the books in this series, I would recommend it for many readers, not just historical fiction fans. It's not a high-stakes, adrenaline-filled story, but the characters are well-written, and the stories wrestle honestly with the messiness of faith in everyday life.
I received a free copy of this book from Kregel in exchange for an honest review.

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