What a beautiful story about one of the most fascinating women in medieval history. I had read excerpts from Hildegard's Scivias in a class in graduate school and I wanted to learn more about her. When I found out this book was being released back in 2012, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. It's a sad story, both because of the hardships Hildegard faced and the harsh conditions she and her sisters hand to endure throughout their lives. Religious life was not and is not an easy path to take, and that fact is very evident in this novel. 
 (view spoiler)[After the middle of the book, but before the very end, I felt disappointed in Hildegard--it seemed like her dreams were coming true not because of her own work, but because of the work of others: the margravine (I'm not sure if I spelled that right...), Volmar, Richardis, the archbishop, and more. Hildegard seemed to float along on the goodwill of others and she was very prideful, but she had an epiphany of sorts when Richardis left St. Rupert's. This was my favorite part of the novel; Hildegard turned her life around and made her work about her sisters and their lives within St. Rupert's. If it wasn't for this turning point in the novel, I would have liked the story far less. (hide spoiler)] 
 This was one of my favorite reads in a long time and I'm thinking about digging out Scivias from somewhere in my mountain of books (good thing I didn't sell it after grad school!).