Victoria Glendinning

England, 1535. Women-- even the privileged few who can read and write-- have little independence. Agnes Peppin, daughter of a butcher, left her family in disgrace and is living out her days behind the walls of the Shaftesbury Abbey. As assistant to the Abbess she becomes integrated into the unstable royal landscape of King Henry VIII. As he proclaims himself the new head of the Church, religious houses are being subjugated; the Abbey is no exception. Free to be the master of her own fate, Agnes must use her wits and test her moral convictions against her need to survive by any means necessary. -- adapted from jacket.

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