The Wise Woman's Tale

The Wise Woman's Tale by Phillipa Bowers.

Kate Bowers is fourteen-years-old when she first experiences the strange gifts she has inherited from her grandmother's side of the family. She has a vivid waking dream, a memory of an earlier life centuries before in the small Somerset village of Oakey Vale when she was murdered by an angry mob who believed her to be a witch.

Her grandmother decides the time is right to reveal to Kate some family secrets, including the ancient cave which houses the family tomb. However, just as Kate is learning to develop her second sight, her further education with her grandmother is interrupted when her father insists she returns to London. He is determined that Kate forget her grandmother's teachings and get a job in order to help support their growing family. But nothing will keep Kate from her destiny: to take her grandmother's place as local wise woman and guardian of the mysterious cave.

.... from the back cover.

At just 232 pages this was a nice, easy 'holiday' read. The first in a series of historical novels about wise women, it was an enjoyable enough in it's own right, but I won't be going out of my way to obtain any further books.

The plot was average, very similar to others of it's genre but, on the whole, not as good whilst the characters were poorly written, monotonous and rather unbelievable. The only thing that really captured my imagination being the heading above each chapter which looked at a different herb and it's medicinal use - fascinating.