Abbess Helewise of Hawkenlye Abbey has a number of problems on her mind. She is worried about her old friend Josse D’Acquin who has been brought to the Abbey suffering from a dangerous fever; but she also has Abbey matters to consider. Not least of these is the bizarre behaviour of Sister Alba, a nun who shows very little Christian feeling. Alba has recently left her own convent in Cambridgeshire to bring her two younger sisters to far away Hawkenlye following the deaths of their mother and father. Helewise is forced to take a trip away from the Abbey to the rather forbidding atmosphere of the Fens before she can uncover the sisters’ secrets.

This is the fourth book in the Hawkenlye series and it was obvious that there was some history between the Abbess and Josse D’Acquin. Having not read the others, I did feel that I was missing out somehow and didn’t completely connect with Abbess Helewise and Josse. I did, however, really enjoy some of the secondary characters - especially the younger ones who were charmingly portrayed.

Knowing very little about medieval England, and even less about monastic life, I was quite prepared to find this book difficult to get into. I discovered that my complete ignorance of the time and the setting was not a problem. The plot was intriguing and well paced, if a little disjointed in places. Medieval mysteries are not generally my tankard of mead but I enjoyed the view of Abbey life, and the insight into the importance of such religious retreats on the society of the period. The Chatter of The Maidens has left me with no great desire to get me to a nunnery on a permanent basis, but I shall definitely visit Abbess Helewise and the Brothers and Sisters of Hawkenlye again when in need of a little serenity and a rest from the hundred mile an hour frenzy of the 21^st century’s wicked streets.