THE POTTER'S FIELD The Seventeenth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael

Listening to Stephen Thorne is like taking a warm bath. One’s sore muscles immediately relax. One cannot accuse this laid-back medieval mystery of being full of action scenes, though action does take place. Rather, the story touches upon characters in all their richness, with Thorne's cultured British voice gliding among them--effortless, gentle, soothing. In 1143, Benedictine Brother Cadfael looks into the question of why a woman's body was buried in the abbey's newly acquired field, which has been plowed partly up at planting time. The characters he deals with seem real. So does he. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 03]