Sister Rosa’s Rebellion, Excerpt by Carolyn Hughes

How can you rescue what you hold most dear, when to do so you must break your vows?

1363. When Mother Angelica, the old prioress at Northwick Priory, dies, many of the nuns presume Sister Rosa – formerly Johanna de Bohun, of Meonbridge – will take her place. But Sister Evangelina, Angelica’s niece, believes the position is hers by right, and one way or another she will ensure it is.

Rosa stands aside to avoid unseemly conflict, but is devastated when she sees how the new prioress is changing Northwick: from a place of humility and peace to one of indulgence and amusement, if only for the prioress and her favoured few. Rosa is terrified her beloved priory will be brought to ruin under Evangelina’s profligate and rapacious rule, but her vows of obedience make it impossible to rebel.

Meanwhile, in Meonbridge, John atte Wode, the bailiff, is also distraught by the happenings at Northwick. After years of advising the former prioress and Rosa on the management of their estates, Evangelina dismissed him, banning him from visiting Northwick again.

Yet, only months ago, he met Anabella, a young widow who fled to Northwick to escape her in-laws’ demands and threats, but is a reluctant novice nun. The attraction between John and Anabella was immediate and he hoped to encourage her to give up the priory and become his wife. But how can he possibly do that now?

Can John rescue his beloved Anabella from a future he is certain she no longer wants? And can Rosa overcome her scruples, rebel against Evangelina’s hateful regime, and return Northwick to the haven it once was?

Excerpt from Chapter 4

As John made his way once more to Northwick Priory, the balmy September morning matched his mood. The warmth of the early sun, and the blueness of the sky, enhanced the joy in his heart, heightening his gladness to be visiting Northwick again so soon, with the possibility of once more seeing Anabella, the young widow who’d taken refuge within the priory’s walls.

He recalled the day he first saw her, back in May, only a few weeks after he’d come to tell Rosa the terrible news about her mother’s death. He spoke to Rosa and Mother Angelica in the prioress’s chamber, then he and Rosa went to the frater for some refreshments.

Anabella came into the frater to bring the ale and sweetmeats, and stayed as chaperone. As she told him later, Rosa noticed how he flushed as Anabella entered, and how Anabella herself faltered as she tried to set the tray of jug and cups upon the table, whilst she held John’s admiring gaze. He’d never understood how such instant attraction could be possible, but it had struck him like a thunderclap, and he was certain Anabella had felt it too.

Since then, he’d come twice more to Northwick, in June, and then in August, more often than he’d been accustomed to since Byllynges had been appointed the priory’s bailiff.

After the first meeting, when Anabella had left the frater for some reason he wasn’t privy to, he’d taken the opportunity to ask Rosa about her and learned she was a widow. She was young, no more than twenty-five or so, and had come to Northwick to escape the persecution of her dead husband’s family. She’d brought her fortune with her, to give as a dowry to the priory.

‘The family are trying to force her to marry her brother-in-law,’ said Rosa. ‘A man she says is even more cruel and unpleasant than her husband was.’ She paused. ‘I could see at once you were beguiled by her. She is very comely.’

He flushed. ‘She’s lovely.’ He scraped his hand through his hair. ‘How terrible her husband’s family have been treating her so ill.’

‘Indeed, but she will be safe here at Northwick, especially once she has taken her vows and put herself beyond their clutches––’

At which he started, realising he might have found the woman he wanted to make his wife and lost her in the same moment. ‘How long will it be?’

‘What?’

‘Before she makes her vows.’

‘Oh, I see. A while yet…’

He gulped down his cup of ale and she poured him another. ‘Is there any chance she might change her mind?’

‘About her vows?’ said Rosa. ‘Only, I suppose, if she was offered marriage by a man she wished to wed. But you have only seen her once, John, and that for only a short time…’

He nodded, feeling foolish. ‘Yet, I did feel an immediate affinity between us, even if it does seem unlikely.’ He sipped at his ale. ‘Do you think she might reconsider…?’ He trailed off.

Rosa raised an eyebrow. ‘Northwick would lose a substantial fortune if she did not stay with us. It is very much to the priory’s advantage that I heartily discourage your new interest in Anabella.’

He then felt both foolish and downhearted. But Rosa, it seemed, wasn’t as unfeeling as she was pretending to be. ‘Yet, in truth, John,’ she continued, ‘I also wish to see you happy, as I am certain your mother does. So perhaps you should come to Northwick again before too long and see if that affinity is still there or is just a fancy.’

He’d stared at her, astonished. Was Rosa of all people acting the matchmaker?

When he’d returned to Northwick a few weeks later, Rosa arranged for Anabella once more to serve their refreshments in the frater and he knew for certain the affinity was real.

Before Anabella arrived, Rosa spoke quietly to John. ‘I talked to Anabella after you came last time. She admitted she was much taken with the light in your eyes and the warmth of your smile. She asked me about you, and I told her what I know.’ She smiled. ‘I do believe she was enraptured by the thought of you.’

John’s heart thudded a little at the thought of her, and when he looked up at Rosa, he knew he had a broad grin on his face. Until he saw her smile had faded.

‘But then she looked a little scared,’ Rosa went on. ‘She said it was too late because she would soon have to make her final vows and be beyond the embrace of any man. I shook my head and suggested she could delay making her vows, protesting her unreadiness.’

Anabella came with the refreshments and Rosa invited her to sit with them, to listen to their continuing discussion of farming matters. If any of the other sisters had enquired, she’d explain that Anabella had expressed an interest in helping her with the management of the priory’s estate. ‘Which is quite true,’ said Rosa, and John couldn’t have been more pleased to hear it.

On his third visit, in August, Anabella had joined in their conversation, asking questions. And John’s heart had swelled with joy at her apparent interest in his life.

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Meet Carolyn Hughes

CAROLYN HUGHES has lived much of her life in Hampshire. With a first degree in Classics and English, she started working life as a computer programmer, then a very new profession. But it was technical authoring that later proved her vocation, word-smithing for many different clients, including banks, an international hotel group and medical instruments manufacturers.

Although she wrote creatively on and off for most of her adult life, it was not until her children flew the nest that writing historical fiction took centre stage. But why historical fiction? Serendipity!

Seeking inspiration for what to write for her Creative Writing Masters, she discovered the handwritten draft, begun in her twenties, of a novel, set in 14th century rural England… Intrigued by the period and setting, she realised that, by writing a novel set in the period, she could learn more about the medieval past and interpret it, which seemed like a thrilling thing to do. A few days later, the first Meonbridge Chronicle, Fortune’s Wheel, was under way.

Seven published books later (with more to come), Carolyn does now think of herself as an Historical Novelist. And she wouldn’t have it any other way…