Rating: 
Summary: Awful
Review: A friend told me Gregory's work was good historical fiction but it is not!This is just a Jackie Collins novel set in medieval England. Not only that, the "wise woman" is obviously based on a curious mix of traditional stereotypes of a witch and new-age info. Why go into details about the clothing and food and then appear to get your occult information from a Dennis Wheatley novel? Not one of the characters is either interesting or likable. Worse still, you don't even hate them, you just end up not caring.
Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: A friend told me Gregory's work was good historical fiction but it is not! This is just a Jackie Collins novel set in medieval England. Not only that, the "wise woman" is obviously based on a curious mix of traditional stereotypes of a witch and new-age info. Why go into details about the clothing and food and then appear to get your occult information from a Dennis Wheatley novel? Not one of the characters is either interesting or likable. Worse still, you don't even hate them, you just end up not caring.
Rating: 
Summary: A selfish, lying, unfaithful, scheming, ambitious 16 yr old!
Review: I loved this book. What a real character, full of flaws. What a pretty 16 year old nun who suddenly finds herself in the real world in the time of Henry VIII might actually do. Not mature enough to make good decisions, selfish and wicked enough to wish people harm and definitely immature enough to not realize that there is a reaction to every action. Well done. I have waited a year of reading two books a month to find a book like this! Thank you Ms. Gregory for the tale of a central character so full and rich I stayed up all night reading to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Incredibly good book that draws you into the world of witches and lords. I cried like a baby at the end!
Rating:
Summary: I can highly recommend this book
Review: This book is also thrilling from the first to the last page. After "Wideacre" this is the 2nd book I read from Philippa Gregory and I must admit I get completely addicted to this author. Certainly I will read more books of her. This story is full with emotion and the problems of the middle age like witches and poverty. Incredible good!
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, frightening historical fiction
Review: This book is extremely dark - its subject matter is pretty bleak and the characters are often rather twisted... but it is nonetheless a riveting read. The Wise Woman tells the story of Alys, an orphan who has been shuffled from house to house throughout her childhood. Alys' first home is with Morach, her town's local witch. Morach is cruel to Alys, and Alys soon finds refuge in the local nunnery. As she prepares to take her final vows, the nunnery is burnt to the ground. Alys flees the fire - leaving her sisters in Christ to burn to death - and is forced to start her life anew. Her travels lead her to the castle near her home, working as an apothecary to the lord of the manor. There she meets the lord's attractive son, discovers her own witchy powers... and finds herself sorely tempted to break her vows. This book is a fscainting story, very well told... the only downside is the sexual imagery is very explicit, and often rather perverse. If you can overlook that... this book is great!
Rating: 
Summary: A wild ride
Review: This book was not what I expected... but in a good way. In my opinion, it's more of a horror/supernatural book than anything else. Gregory does a good job of making you love and hate the main character.
Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: This is a brilliant dark story of a young girl and her quest to live like a queen. She wants the prize of 'lady of the house' and will stop at nothing to get it. She uses her power to reach for her dreams, only to realise that the prize wasn't hers. She is a false woman, and slowly becomes entrapped in her own lies. Despite the bleakness of the story and the wickedness of Alys, I still liked her! She felt she was destined for an important role, and went out to claim it. She sought love and didn't know what to do with it when she had it. As l was approaching the last few pages of the story I was wondering how on earth it could end, I was so looking forward to the birth of her child etc. I am currently making my way through all of Philippa Gregory's books. Her novels, both historical and comtemporay are always so vivid and the endings never fail to be anything but thought provoking. Keep writing, because l will certainly keep reading!
Rating:
Summary: not so smart for a wise woman
Review: This is a brilliant dark story of a young girl and her quest to live like a queen. She wants the prize of 'lady of the house' and will stop at nothing to get it. She uses her power to reach for her dreams, only to realise that the prize wasn't hers. She is a false woman, and slowly becomes entrapped in her own lies. Despite the bleakness of the story and the wickedness of Alys, I still liked her! She felt she was destined for an important role, and went out to claim it. She sought love and didn't know what to do with it when she had it. As l was approaching the last few pages of the story I was wondering how on earth it could end, I was so looking forward to the birth of her child etc. I am currently making my way through all of Philippa Gregory's books. Her novels, both historical and comtemporay are always so vivid and the endings never fail to be anything but thought provoking. Keep writing, because l will certainly keep reading!
Rating:
Summary: horror in the middle ages
Review: Wise Woman is a brilliant,wickedly honest addition to the midieval genre. After reading this I had to read all of Philippa Gregory's novels. This is the "edgiest" of them . This novel breathlessly proceeds with nail-biting pace to it's ultimate conclusion. There are scenes from this book which are BURNED in my memory: a nightmare of Candlewax and perfidy,the wave of a dolls arm, the truth revealed as to a woman's real value in Midieval society. As dark as it is, Wise Woman is sometimes amusing.It is the laughter, however,of the nervous and the dammed. I highly recommend Wise Woman as a "midieval" turned upside down.
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