I am so pleased to be bringing you an extract from this book today. Sister Rosa's Rebellion by Carolyn Hughes is part of the Meonbridge Chronicles series and looks fabulous.
The Blurb
How can you rescue what you hold most dear, when to do so you must break your vows?1363. When Mother Angelica, the old prioress at Northwick Priory, dies, many of the nuns presume Sister Rosa – formerly Johanna de Bohun, of Meonbridge – will take her place. But Sister Evangelina, Angelica’s niece, believes the position is hers by right, and one way or another she will ensure it is.
Rosa stands aside to avoid unseemly conflict, but is devastated when she sees how the new prioress is changing Northwick: from a place of humility and peace to one of indulgence and amusement, if only for the prioress and her favoured few. Rosa is terrified her beloved priory will be brought to ruin under Evangelina’s profligate and rapacious rule, but her vows of obedience make it impossible to rebel.
Meanwhile, in Meonbridge, John atte Wode, the bailiff, is also distraught by the happenings at Northwick. After years of advising the former prioress and Rosa on the management of their estates, Evangelina dismissed him, banning him from visiting Northwick again.
Yet, only months ago, he met Anabella, a young widow who fled to Northwick to escape her in-laws’ demands and threats, but is a reluctant novice nun. The attraction between John and Anabella was immediate and he hoped to encourage her to give up the priory and become his wife.
But how can he possibly do that now?Can John rescue his beloved Anabella from a future he is certain she no longer wants? And can Rosa overcome her scruples, rebel against Evangelina’s hateful regime, and return Northwick to the haven it once was?
The Excerpt
Excerpt from Chapter 3
Glancing once more around the little chamber that soon might not be hers to occupy, Rosa closed the door and hurried downstairs to the frater.
But she did not reach Beatrice nor even the frater before her passage was intercepted. As she hurried along one wing of the cloister, Evangelina stepped out from the door of the chapter house, giving her a start.
‘Goodness, Sister Evangelina, you made me jump,’ said Rosa.
Evangelina inclined her head in a gesture of apology, although her expression bore no sign of it. She pointed back into the chapter house. ‘I was readying the chamber for our meeting this afternoon.’
‘We are having a meeting?’ said Rosa, astonished.
‘The business of the priory must continue. We have matters to discuss.’
Rosa was momentarily perplexed. Who had decided a chapter meeting should be held? It was not the usual day and time. ‘Yes, yes, of course. But when was it announced?’
‘It will be shortly,’ said Evangelina. ‘At dinner.’
‘That gives the sisters very little notice,’ Rosa said. ‘But I shall attend.’ She made to hurry on to catch up with Sister Beatrice, who must now be thinking she was not coming.
But Evangelina placed a heavy hand upon her arm. ‘Before you run off, Sister Rosa,’ she said, her head tilted slightly, ‘a word…’
A frisson of alarm ran down Rosa’s spine. Evangelina’s “word” sounded menacing. ‘A word about what?’ she said.
Evangelina drew her back into the chapter house and closed the door. ‘One of the subjects for discussion will be the election,’ she said.
‘Indeed,’ said Rosa, her heart thudding slightly at the ominous edge to Evangelina’s voice. ‘I understand Sister Amata has written to the bishop, asking for his permission to proceed. Has she received a reply?’
‘I’m not aware of it. But that’s not what I wish to raise with you…’ She hesitated and tilted her head again. Then she swept over to the fine oak chair that was the prioress’s station during meetings. She sat in it, leaned back and gestured Rosa to take a nearby stool.
Rosa’s mouth was dry as she lowered herself onto the stool. Did Evangelina want to know if she was going to stand against her in the election? Rosa looked at her hands, resting uneasily in her lap: what would her answer be? She had not yet quite decided but, if Evangelina asked her, she should surely not prevaricate? ‘So, what is it you wish to say?’
‘As I’m sure you know, I’m the natural successor to Mother Angelica as prioress of Northwick, as I’m a Godeffroy…’ Rosa nodded. ‘I suspect you also know that, in the interests of fair play, or at least the semblance of it’––she smirked––‘Angelica insisted an election must be held…’
‘I understood that an election always has been held…’
‘And one will be this time too. However, Sister Rosa, you must understand that I intend to win…’
‘Intend to?’ Despite her uneasiness, Rosa raised an eyebrow. ‘Does not who wins depend upon the electors?’
‘It follows then that no one must stand against me who might triumph in my stead…’ She paused. ‘Like you, for example.’
‘Me?’
‘Oh, don’t play the coy damsel with me, Dolorosa,’ she snarled, and Rosa started at her hostile use of her old religious name. ‘Everyone knows you hope to step into my aunt’s shoes. Haven’t you been working up to it all these years, acting as subprioress?’
‘I was not the subprioress,’ said Rosa, her anxiety rising, ‘but merely Mother Angelica’s assistant…’
‘Whatever you say… Nonetheless it’s my birth right to succeed my aunt. And, surely, with your sense of what is right and fair, you’d not deny me that?’
‘What are you saying, Sister Evangelina?’
‘I’m asking you, politely, to stand aside.’
Rosa swallowed. ‘But why should I when I understand the Reverend Mother hoped I might follow in her footsteps?’
‘Ha! You believe that? My aunt was humouring you, Dolorosa, into thinking you’d be the next prioress. She knew it was my birth right to succeed.’
Rosa found herself shaking. Was Evangelina right? Had Mother Angelica only pretended to favour her? She had never felt that was the case. Moreover, Amata was certain Angelica did prefer her.
‘I am afraid I do not believe you,’ she said, sounding much more confident than she felt.
‘So, you won’t stand aside?’ said Evangelina and Rosa gave her shoulders a little shrug.
Evangelina placed her hands upon the table top before her and splayed her fingers. ‘In that case, I shall have to persuade you.’
‘Persuade me? How?’
‘By threatening to expose your darkest secrets, Dolorosa.’ She smirked once more.
Rosa shivered. What could Evangelina possibly know of her past? ‘But I have no secrets,’ she said, willing her voice to steadiness.
‘Oh, I think you do. I know you do!’
Rosa’s heart was thudding. Was Evangelina referring to the reason she had come to Northwick fifteen years ago? If she was, how could she have learned of it? Of course, the priests knew something of it, but confessions were sacrosanct. Of the nuns, only Angelica ever knew why she had come, and she would never have betrayed her secret, especially to Evangelina.
‘I do not know what you think you have discovered,’ said Rosa, ‘but tell me how you know.’
Evangelina grinned. ‘I remember when you first came to Northwick, what a wretched and insufferably pious girl you were. I know about the ridiculous name you chose, “Dolorosa”, and how my aunt persuaded you to choose something less unashamedly guilt-ridden.’ She scoffed. ‘It was obvious to anyone you were hiding a dreadful secret, some terrible wrong you had committed… How astonishing you now have the status of a saint––’
‘I do not!’ She could not stop her voice shaking.
‘Well, if not a saint, then most virtuous and saint-ly… But of course, it isn’t true. You’re not virtuous nor saintly but the perpetrator of the direst wickedness!’ Evangelina banged her hand down on the table with an air of triumph.
Book Details:
ISBN: 978 1739539436
Publisher: Riverdown Books
Formats: e-book and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)
No. of Pages: 446
Purchase Links
About the Author
CAROLYN HUGHES has lived much of her life in Hampshire. With a first degree in Classics and English, she started working life as a computer programmer, then a very new profession. But it was technical authoring that later proved her vocation, word-smithing for many different clients, including banks, an international hotel group and medical instruments manufacturers.
Although she wrote creatively on and off for most of her adult life, it was not until her children flew the nest that writing historical fiction took centre stage. But why historical fiction? Serendipity!
Seeking inspiration for what to write for her Creative Writing Masters, she discovered the handwritten draft, begun in her twenties, of a novel, set in 14th century rural England… Intrigued by the period and setting, she realised that, by writing a novel set in the period, she could learn more about the medieval past and interpret it, which seemed like a thrilling thing to do. A few days later, the first Meonbridge Chronicle, Fortune’s Wheel, was under way.
Seven published books later (with more to come), Carolyn does now think of herself as an Historical Novelist. And she wouldn’t have it any other way…
You can also find Carolyn at:
(all media courtesy of The Coffee Pot Book Club)
(all opinions are my own)
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