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The Witch in the Well: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery, by Sharan Newman
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First time in paperback!
Catherine LeVendeur is a creature of 12th century France whose life is a mirror of her times--but she is armed with a keen mind and lively curiosity.
When Catherine's grandfather sends for his family to tell them their well is going dry, Catherine is alarmed. The family's wealth depends on its status, and if the well goes dry, their castle will fall. Her grandfather seems wracked with a fear deeper than that, though--and there's a mysterious woman appearing at odd moments who may or may not be the family's ancestral ghost.
Catherine doesn't believe the magical legends her family has handed down, that they are the descendents of a knight of Charlemagne's and a faerie. She puts her faith and distrust in the human condition.
When bodies being appearing--not ghostly specters, but freshly-dead humans--Catherine knows she's right, and must uncover the secrets of the witch in the well...
- Sales Rank: #1924302 in Books
- Published on: 2010-03-02
- Released on: 2010-03-02
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.50" h x .78" w x 5.50" l, .80 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 352 pages
From Booklist
Newman's intrepid, twelfth-century French woman of reason, Catherine LeVendeur, is with her brother when their family is summoned to the castle of her aged grandfather. The well is running dry, and according to legend, if the well runs dry, all the branches of the family will die. Catherine does not believe in pagan tales; however, it seems that misfortune does stalk her extended family as people are murdered and a lord is threatening to besiege the castle. As others wait for some mythical antecedent to save them, Catherine looks for a contemporary explanation for the mishaps and mayhem. But it seems as though even the castle is against her finding a solution with its many passages and secret entrances, although it does eventually lead her to the solution with the help of a witch of a relative. Once again Newman provides her audience with a multifaceted jewel of a historical mystery that is filled with fascinating details that bring the twelfth century to life. Patty Engelmann
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
Sharan Newman is a historian, lecturer, and writer who has won many awards, including the Macavity for Best First Mystery and the Herodotus for Best Historical Mystery.
Excerpt. � Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
One
The keep at Vielleteneuse, near Saint-Denis. Tuesday 3 ides August (August 9) 1149. Feast of Saint Alexander, burnt at the stake in 295, patron saint of charcoal burners. 28th Av 4909.
D�€™un lay vos dirai l�€™aventere:
Nel tenez pas a troveure,
Veritez est ce que je dirai....
I�€™m going to tell you a tale of an adventure:
Don�€™t believe it�€™s only a story,
It is the complete truth....
�€”The lai of Guingamor, II. 1�€“3
It was the hottest summer in living memory. Blind Garna said so and no one doubted her. She had been the midwife for every soul now alive in the village. She swore that it was worse even than the year the crops had all shriveled to dust before the vigil of the Feast of Saint James when the forest had spontaneously burst into flame.
The heat sucked moisture from men, animals, plants, the earth itself. The summer spared no one, from village hut to castle.
Marie, lady of Vielleteneuse, yawned over her embroidery. After a week of working on it, the blue and yellow flowers on the green linen seemed insipid. The material crumpled under her perspiring hands and the needle kept slipping from her fingers. She looked over at her husband�€™s sister, Catherine, hoping for sympathy. But Catherine was poring over some musty parchment, apparently unaware of the heavy air.
Suddenly, Marie sat bolt upright. From below their tower the afternoon lethargy was cut by shouts and cries of anger. They were being attacked! She heard the shouts of the guards as they tried to stop the invaders. The clanking of metal against wood echoed harshly up the spiral staircase.
Startled from her reading, Catherine looked up. The noise was coming closer. She realized that the troop had managed to get past the guards and was even now climbing the narrow steps to the solar.
�€œMarie!�€? Catherine called a warning to her sister-in-law. �€œThey�€™re coming!�€?
�€œI have ears,�€? Marie answered. She put her embroidery safely back in its box. �€œAre you ready?�€?
Catherine shook her head as she hid the parchment under a cushion. �€œThere are too many for me!�€?
She ran to the window to call for help but it was too late. The hordes were upon them.
Marie stood proudly, her hands on her hips, defying them to attack.
�€œNot one of you touch me until you�€™ve washed!�€? she ordered the intruders as they burst into the room. �€œHubert, put down that stick before you fall on it! Beron, stop poking your brother! Ma-bile, just what have you been eating? Evaine, give the baby to your aunt. Why did you run away from your nursemaids?�€?
Gingerly, Catherine reached out her arms and took her youngest child, Peter, from her niece. He was as filthy as the others, his tunic stained with grass, mud, and, she sniffed, probably horse dung, although it might be his own. At only a bit past the age of one, Peter wasn�€™t about to look for a chamber pot.
Her other two children, James and Edana, were somewhere amidst the cluster of cousins. Catherine didn�€™t even try to identify them under the muck. She held Peter out at arm�€™s length. The child let out a hungry wail. Catherine sighed and set him down long enough to strip off his short tunic before she nestled his naked body against the slit in her clothing. Peter relaxed at once and sucked eagerly at her breast.
�€œHe�€™s still getting mud all over you,�€? Marie observed. �€œThat�€™s what comes of not getting a wet nurse.�€?
Catherine shrugged. She�€™d heard the argument before, but all the authors she had consulted said that a child could ingest weakness and unwholesome traits if fed by a hired woman. Nursing him herself was sometimes inconvenient, but necessary to the moral development of her son. And, although she knew Marie would laugh, Catherine loved being able to hold Peter, to snuggle his solid, healthy body against her. It was worth a bit of grime.
�€œWe�€™ll have to change, anyway,�€? she reminded Marie, �€œif my brother is bringing back his hunting party to be fed tonight.�€?
�€œThey�€™ll get cold chicken and trout pies unless they�€™ve brought down a deer,�€? Marie answered. �€œYes, I know. I suppose I should see what else the cooks have come up with. There are berries enough and greens, I suppose. Although who would want to eat in this heat, I can�€™t imagine. Now,�€? she returned to the children, �€œEvaine, get these wild animals back to their nurses to be washed and dressed. Beron and James, don�€™t forget you are to help serve tonight.�€?
The two six-year-olds were hopping with excitement. After much pleading, they had convinced their parents that they were old enough to carry the hand towels and small trays of sweetmeats at dinner. They had been practicing all week and spent their idle hours speculating on how much they could snitch from the platters.
Catherine finished feeding the baby, who had fallen asleep. She held him until the nurse finally appeared to clean and dress him again. As he lay in her lap, she let her fingers play in his soft curls, golden as summer wheat. He seemed so sturdy, but Catherine knew how fragile children were. She had lost one at birth and another to a winter ague. No sacrifice was too great to ensure their safety.
With a sigh, Catherine gave her youngest into the nurse-maid�€™s care and resigned herself to an evening in tight sleeves, hot slippers, and an elaborate headdress. It was the price she paid for spending the summer out of the miasma of the Paris air. Vielleteneuse was a small town well north of the city. Even though it was on an important roadway, hence the need for a fortified castle, it was cooler and quieter than Paris, with healthy breezes to sweep away foul humors that could cause sickness. At least it had been until this suffocating heat had settled in.
Still, she thought, as she stood impatiently later that afternoon waiting to be fitted into her sleeves, it would be nice if the price for the children�€™s safety didn�€™t include heavy, elegant robes.
Elegance was Catherine�€™s main objection to life at Vielleteneuse. She wouldn�€™t mind living in the castle if her brother, Guillaume, didn�€™t take his position so seriously. Although their father had been only a merchant, Guillaume had been raised at the castle of their maternal grandfather, Gargenaud. The lords of Boisvert were very minor nobility in terms of property, but they had the pride that comes with knowing that not only had their ancestors fought with Charlemagne, but that they were able to name the links of that lineage all the way down to the present, almost four hundred years later.
Guillaume intended that he and his children live up to that heritage. His oldest son, Gerard, was now a page in the household of the count of Vermandois, regent of France. The boy was home for a visit until Saint Matthew�€™s Eve and Guillaume took every possible opportunity to show him off to friends, neighbors, and important visitors.
Although much less concerned with position than Guillaume, Catherine�€™s husband, Edgar, had encouraged her to pass the worst of the summer at the castle.
�€œIt�€™s time our children learned how to behave properly,�€? he had told her. �€œAnd speak. They sound like the urchins in the streets of Paris. Half the time I can�€™t understand what they�€™re saying, their speech is so slurred and full of parleroie de vilain.�€?
Catherine had agreed. Whatever the children did in their lives, they would receive no advancement unless they were well spoken and knew how to behave among the nobility.
Of course, now that Catherine�€™s children were in the country, they had begun to sound like the peasants who lived near the keep. Added to that, James was learning vulgarities from the men-at-arms that Catherine could only guess the meaning of, despite her classical education.
Still, she reminded herself, Canon Hugh of Saint Victor had written that no knowledge is useless. Perhaps Edgar would explain the words to her when he returned from Lombardy.
Catherine smiled at the thought of the conversation, trying to ignore the twist of worry in her stomach at the thought of her husband so far away. Edgar�€™s party had been well protected, she reminded herself. The mountain passes were clear in the summer and he wore enough charms and herbal bags to keep him safe even from the sweating sickness. He would return soon. It wasn�€™t as if he had gone off with King Louis on that disastrous expedition to the Holy Land. There were many women who had already learned that they were now widows and many others who would never know the fate of the men they loved.
�€œOw!�€? Catherine was brought out of her thoughts by a piercing pain in her arm.
�€œStop fidgeting and you won�€™t get stuck,�€? her maid, Samonie, told her. �€œIf you don�€™t stay still, I might easily sew your inner sleeve to your robe. A fine fool you�€™d look then!�€?
Catherine settled obediently. As a trickle of sweat slid down her back, she wondered again if there might not be some less tortuous way to educate the children.
She was barely sewn together and hadn�€™t yet started winding the long scarf around her looped-up braids, when she heard a clatter of horses�€™ hooves on the hard earth of the bailey below. Samonie went to look.
�€œIt�€™s Lord Guillaume,�€? she told Catherine. �€œWhatever is he doing here? He shouldn�€™t be back for hours. Nothing is ready!�€?
�€œIs anyone hurt?�€? Catherine asked.
�€œDon�€™t think so,�€? the maid answered. �€œEveryone seems to be upright in the saddle, even young Gerard. Wait! One of the men has something...someone slung in front of him. If they�€™ve brought down some poacher for sport, ...
Most helpful customer reviews
21 of 24 people found the following review helpful.
Disappointing
By Kathleen M. Green
I am a great fan of Sharan Newman's Catherine LeVendeur series and often recommend it, but found the latest installment to be disappointing. The entire first section of the novel, set at her brother's castle, seemed unrelated to the second part. I did not see the point, other than to encourage Catherine to visit her family's home. The second part of the novel wandered. I found the descriptions of Boisvert totally unbelieveable, and the actions of most the characters incomprehensible. Catherine seemed scatterbrained and unfocused. I won't give away the ending, but I found the last scene to be inconsistent with all the previous books in the series, and unrealistic. The usual afterward connecting the book with actual historical events and places was also missed.
My distinct impression is that there is a good book buried within "The Witch in the Well" but deadlines and a lack of serious editing prevented its creation. However, I have faith in Ms. Newman and look forward to another installment, hopefully better.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
a satisfying read
By tregatt
This latest Catherine LeVendeur installment reads more like an adventure novel -- what with a family secret to decode and a castle siege to withstand -- than a "straight" mystery novel. Still, there were plenty of mysterious goings on and a murder or two to go around, and the novel was a fantastically absorbing and riveting read.
Catherine and her children are summering at her brother's estate in the country, when brother and sister receive summons from their grandfather, Gargenaud of Boisvert, requesting that all his descendants come to Boisvert at once. Legend has it that the family are descended from a poor but honourable knight who served Charlemagne, and a beautiful "fairy" (Andonenn) who guarded a secret spring -- the spring that feeds the well in the castle keep of Boisvert. The fortunes of Boisvert and that of the family are tied to water flowing freely into the well. But now the well seems to have dried up, and Catherine's grandfather is filled with fear. He believes that if Andonenn's children come to the keep, than the curse will be reversed and the water will flow again. Catherine places little stock in legend and fairy stories. That is until messengers turn up dead, and a mysterious old woman urges Catherine to go to Boisvert before it is too late. Should Catherine endanger her family by taking them to Boisvert? Edgar is all for ignoring the summons, but Catherine has a hankering to see Boisvert again. Also, she's rather intrigued about the legend of Andonenn and the part she is supposed to play in all this...
Strangely enough, in spite of all the mysterious and bewildering goings-on at Boisvert, compared to previous Catherine LeVendeur mystery novels, "The Witch in the Well" lacked the darkness and grim somberness that characterised those installments. But did this make "The Witch in the Well" an unexciting and not very engaging read? To the contrary. From the very beginning I was hooked, and eagerly read on until I reached the last page. I enjoyed discovering more about Catherine's family history, and watching her interact with her siblings. Obviously the inability to get along completely and sublimely with one's siblings is a universal condition. And I enjoyed that Sharan Newman showcased this, while also leaving room for readers to realise that that Catherine, her brother, Guillaume, and her sister, Agnes, all have their good points and not so wonderful points. Fast paced and suspenseful, and full of wonderful historical detail about the period (12th century France), "The Witch in the Well" is a treat not to be missed!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Castles, Secret Passages, Witches and Old Curses!
By Shirley Schwartz
What more can you ask for in a medieval mystery? This is by far the best Catherine LeVendeur mystery! In it we have Catherine and her family going back to the home of her mother because of a summons received by her grandfather. When they arrive they find a castle that is full of her relations, but it is also full of secrets. It seems that no one is telling the truth. Catherine and Edgar, along with her sister Agnes and her ward Margaret, set out to uncover all the secrets and therefore solve the family problems that everyone thinks are being experienced as a result of an ancient curse placed on their family. The book is a page-turner! There is a lot of action going on, and of course a time-constraint as well, since the well in the keep is going dry. Reading this book is like taking a time-flight back to medieval France.
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