Booklog 2/2025: Ellis Peters: Brother Cadfael’s Penance – Cadfael #20 - Audiobook

[jacey]

Audiobook read by Derek Jacobi. I love the Cadfael stories about the gentle but perceptive monk who has a crusading past. This one is especially intriguing as Cadfael goes to rescue the adult son he learned about in a previous story. He hadn't revealed himself previously, so this time you're wondering when/if all will be revealed. The son was fighting on the side of the Empress Maude/Mathilda in the Stephen/Mathilda war for the crown, and when a castle he was in was given over to the enemy he 'disappeared' and was not listed for ransom as other knights were. There's a peace meeting in Coventry which comes to nothing, but a murder impacts Cadfael's search. Suffice it to say there's a satisfying ending. Derek Jacobi is the perfect narrator for the Cadfael books. That’s not to say I disliked Philip Madoc narrating earlier books, but Jacobi brings Cadfael to life. He is Cadfael.

Comments

[cmcmck]

It's a shame Ellis Peters never lived to write the end of the anarchy whenre you find out if Olivier and Hugh become fast friends.

[jacey]

Agreed, but as a reader you can continue the story in your head and take it in any direction you wish. I always liked the first few TV Cadfaels with Sean Pertwee playing Hugh Berenger. When they changed actors, the new Hugh never felt quite right. Derek Jacobi, of course, was perfect.

[heleninwales]

I don't remember this one. I reread the earlier ones, often more than once, but the later ones didn't get reread in the same way. If I wanted to reread, I'd have to buy them on Kindle because the print on my old paperbacks is too small to read comfortably now. Annoyingly the library doesn't have any Cadfael audiobooks.

[jacey]

The Cadfael audiobooks often come up in the Audible £3.99 sale, hence reading these out of order.