Hawk and the Dove

The Hawk And The Dove is the opening title in this a series centered around the fictional Benedictine monastery of St Alcuin's, in Yorkshire, and set in the fourteenth century. At the start of the first novel Father Peregrine is appointed Abbot, at the age of 45. Father Peregrine, an arrogant, impatient man, is a hawk trying hard to be a dove, whose struggles to manifest the character he considers to be expected of an abbot provide much of the narrative.

At the end of The Hawk and the Dove Father Peregrine is horribly injured in an attack originating from his previous life as a nobleman, before his calling to the monastic way. Now, badly crippled, he finds himself humbled to request assistance of his fellow monks in the simplest task. Nevertheless the old indomitable spirit burns brightly. When he is asked to contribute to a conference on justice he finds himself ranged against the formidable Prior William.

Peregrine, strong and beloved abbot of St. Alcuin’s monastery, suffers a stroke. Now incapacitated, he begins an arduous recovery with the help of his brothers in the infirmary. Brother Tom, the young monk closest to him, is horrified by the suffering Peregrine’s illness has inflicted. He keeps his distance, out of his depth. How will he find the courage to make this demanding journey of vulnerability with his friend? How will they communicate, now that Peregrine can no longer speak? How will Tom respond to the terrible, secret promise his abbot asks him to make?

Sometimes things must get worse before they get better. Lent is cold, wet and austere, and the brothers long for their new abbot, John Hazell, to take up the reins. But on the first day of John's abbacy, Prior William de Bulmer rocks up at their door, seeking refuge from his numerous enemies. His priory is a charred ruin, and he has nowhere else to go. Appalled to be taking in this man who so ill-treated their beloved former abbot, the community must address old resentments and new divisions. Can grace prevail? Will their refugee receive healing–or spread poison?