The Greenest Branch

About this book

In the year 1115 young Hildegard arrives at the Abbey of St. Disibod dreaming of becoming a physician. But she soon finds out that as a girl she cannot attend the abbey school; instead, she must live in seclusion at the affiliated women's convent. Yet Hildegard refuses to be sidelined. Against fierce opposition from the head of the monks' cloister, she secures an apprenticeship with the abbey infirmary. As Hildegard's reputation as a healer begins to spread the prior's hostility escalates, but that is not the only challenge she must grapple with. She has also developed feelings for a fellow Benedictine that force her to re-examine the fundamental assumptions she has made about her life. Is the practice of medicine within the confines of the cloister her true calling? Or is a quiet existence of domestic contentment more desirable? With the pressures mounting and threatening to derail her carefully-laid plans, Hildegard becomes locked in a struggle that will either earn her an unprecedented freedom or relegate her to irrevocable oblivion. The Greenest Branch is the first in a two-book series based on the true story of Hildegard of Bingen, Germany's first female physician. Set against the backdrop of the oak forests and sparkling rivers of the Rhineland, it is a tale of courage, sacrifice, and love that will appeal to fans of Ken Follett, Elizabeth Chadwick, Umberto Eco, Margaret Frazer, and Conn Iggulden.