No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is...

"It is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from the Welsh in the west and the Vikings in the east. Those in power bend justice according to their will, regardless of ordinary people and often in conflict with the king. Without a clear rule of law, chaos reigns. In these turbulent times, three characters find their lives intertwined: A young boatbuilder's life is turned upside down when the only home he's ever known is raided...

An improverished Russian country girl Elena Rudina and the aristocratic Ekatrina meet and set in motion an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and the witch Baba Yaga.

In ancient China, a young monk at the Shaolin Temple develops a new style of self-defense after spending the summer alone in the Song Mountains and observing a small praying mantis battling a much larger beetle. Based on the seventeenth-century legend of Wong Long and the founding of praying mantis kung fu.

After painstakingly handcrafting a replacement copy of a library book, a medieval monk tries to protect it from a hungry bear with a taste for literature. Includes historical note on illuminated manuscripts.

It's Christmas, and a local visiting dignitary suddenly takes ill immediately following his decision to bequeath his manorial estate to the abbey. Luckily, the abbey boasts the services of the herbalist Brother Cadfael, who hurries to the man's bedside, only to be confronted with two surprises: the man's wife is Richildis - whom Cadfael loved before he took his vows, and the poison is monk's-hood oil from Cadfael's stores. Using his knowledge of both...

Brother Giovanni is a happy man and the best baker his monastery has ever seen, but when he is tasked with preparing the children for the Bishop's visit, he has no luck until he twists some bread dough into a special shape, sprinkles it with salt, and offers it as a reward for learning prayers.

The struggle for human freedom continues as Merlin Athrawes and a handful of extraordinary human beings stand in the path of the Church of God Awaiting, which controls most of Safehold and has decreed the destruction of Charis and its young queen Sharleyan of Chisholm and her consort, young Cayleb Ahrmahk.

In summer of 1144, a strange calm has settled over England. The armies of King Stephen and Empress Maudhave temporarily exhausted each other. Brother Cadfael, herbalist-sleuth of Shrewsbury's Benedictine Abbey, agrees to accompany wise young Brother Mark on Church business in Wales. But the brothers soon find themselves caught up in yet another feud. A Welsh prince has banished his brother, accusing him of the treacherous murder of an ally, and the...