"We tell ourselves stories in order to live."

-- Joan Didion, The White Album

T H E   K N A V E   AN D   T H E   M A I D E N

JANUARY 2004

 THE BOOK | INTERNATIONAL | REVIEWS | AUTHOR INTERVIEWS | AN EXCERPT 

Read the Reviews

 
Booklist--January 1, 2004--"Rescuing his liege, William, on the battlefields of France earned English knight Garren the name of "Savior," but all his efforts seem futile once they reach Readington Castle and William begins a slow descent toward death. Now in a desperate bid to save his friend, Garren agrees to go on a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Blessed Larina. Among the other pilgrims is beautiful Dominica, who seeks some sign that the saint approves of her choice to become a novice. Unbeknownst to Dominica, the prioress, in collaboration with William's younger brother, pays Garren to seduce Dominica in the hope of keeping her out of the convent. Garren tries everything he can think of to tempt Dominica into surrendering her innocence, only to find Dominica's unshakable faith tempting him into believing in God again. Faith and love play an important part in Gifford's sweetly passionate and wonderfully romantic debut historical, which vividly re-creates the medieval pilgrimage experience, complete with a company of characters worthy of Chaucer."   (Reviewed by John Charles) Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.  Reprinted with permission.

Historical Romance Writers--"...pure poetry . . .the sweetness of the ending will have you running for your tissues. Oh yes, this is a new star on the horizon . . ."  (Reviewed by Marilyn)

The Romance Reader's Connection--"...the reader will find The Knave and the Maiden difficult to put down, even when the last page is read!"  (Reviewed by Melissa Fowler)  

Love Romances--"Ms. Gifford has a wonderful writing talent in that she can bring out the full extent of emotions in each of her characters, touching a reader in every way." (Reviewed by Kari) 

All About Romance--"...the setting and many of the characters in this novel will remain with me..." (Reviewed by Lynn Spencer)

Round Table Reviews--"Blythe Gifford enters the romance scene with a fast-paced, scintillating historical romance."  (Reviewed by Tracy Farnsworth) 

The Best Reviews "If you believe in love and miracles, you'll adore this story." (Reviewed by Suzanne Tucker for the Old Book Barn Gazette)

Rendezvous Magazine "...gripping and very powerful." (S.D.)

Author Interviews

The Dream Weaver -- Author Interview

Once Upon a Romance -- Author Interview

The Romance Readers Connection -- TRRC Author Interview with Blythe Gifford, author of the month for January 2004.

Love Romances -- Author interview.

Round Table Reviews -- Author Interview.

eHarlequin--Author Interview

Romance Ever After--Author Interview

Read an Excerpt

England, June 1357

From CHAPTER ONE

Garren, though he had given up God as a lost cause, was still shocked when a nun asked him to violate a virgin.

“Dominica is her name,” the Prioress said, settled in her shabby chamber as if it were a throne room.  “Do you know her?”

Speechless, he shook his head.

“Come.”  The Prioress beckoned him to the window overlooking the garden.  “See for yourself.”

The girl knelt in the dirt, facing away from him.  Her hair lay like poured honey in a thick braid down her back.  She hummed over her plants, a soothing sound, like the drone of a drowsy bee.

Of its own accord, his heart thumped a little harder.  Even from behind she had a pleasing shape.  It would not be difficult to take her, but the idea rekindled a sense of outrage he thought long dead.

“I’ll not force her.”  He had seen too much force in France.  Knights who took vows of chivalry and then took women like rutting boars.  The remembrance churned in his stomach.  He would starve first.

“Use whatever methods you like.”  The Prioress shrugged.  “She must not return from this trip a virgin.”

He looked back at the girl, digging up the weeds.  He was no knight from a romance, but he had a way with women.  Camp followers across France could attest to that.  Every woman had a sweet spot if you took time to look.  Where would this one’s be?  Her shell-like ears?  The curve of her neck?   

She stood and turned, smiling at him briefly and the purest blue eyes he had ever seen looked into his wretched soul.  He felt as transparent as stained glass.

And for a moment, he shook with fear he had never felt before a battle with the French.

He shrugged off the feeling.  There was no reason for it.  She was not that remarkable.  Tall.  Rounded breasts.  Freckles.  A broad brow.  Her mouth, the top lip serious, the bottom one with a sensual curve.  And an overall air as if she were not quite of this earth.

She turned away and kneeled to weed the next row.

“Why?”  He had asked God that question regularly without reply.  He didn’t know why he expected a country Prioress to answer. 

The Prioress, broad of chest and hip, did not take the question theologically.  Her dangling crucifix clanked like a sword as she strode away from the window, out of hearing of the happy hum.  “You think me cruel.”

“I have seen war, Mother Julian.  Man’s inhumanity is no worse than God’s.”  He had a sudden thought.  The usual resolution to a tumble with a maid would find him married in a fortnight.  “If it is a husband you need, I’m not the one.  I cannot support a wife.” 

I can barely support myself.

“You will not be asked to marry the girl.”

He eyed a neatly stitched patch on her faded black habit and wondered whether she had the money she promised.  “Nor fined.”

“If you had any money you would not be considering my offer.  No, not fined, either.  God has a different plan.”

God again.  The excuse for most of the ill done in the world.  Hypocrites like this one had driven him from the Church.  “If you do not care for my immortal soul, aren’t you concerned about hers?  What will happen to her?  Afterwards?”

Her eyes flickered over him, as if trying to decide whether he was worthy of an answer.  “Her life will go on much as before.”

He doubted that. But the money she offered would be enough for him to give William the gift of the pilgrimage.  Enough and more.  William would be dead soon.  Garren would have no welcome under Richard’s reign.  All he owned was his horse and his armor.  With England and France at peace, he had no place to go.

With what she offered, and the few coins he had left from France, he might find a corner of England no one else wanted, where he and God could ignore each other.

“Can you pay me now?”

“I’m a Prioress, not a fool.  You’ll get your money when you return.  If you succeed.  Now, will you do it?”

The girl’s happy hum still buzzed in his ear.  What was one more sin to a God who punished only the righteous?  Besides, the Church didn’t need this one.  The Church had already taken enough.

He nodded.

“Sister Marian also goes to the shrine.  She knows nothing of this.  She wants the girl to fulfill her vow and return to the order.”

“And you do not.”

The Prioress crossed herself.  A faint shudder ruffled the edge of her robe.  “She is a foundling with the Devil’s own eyes.  He can have her back.”  Her smile was anything but holy.  “And you will be His instrument.”

From THE KNAVE AND THE MAIDEN

Copyright 2004

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Copyright 2003-7, W. Blythe Gifford

Cover copyright 2003, Harlequin Enterprises

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