This was surprisingly entertaining - don't look for historical accuracy, because the Henry VIII setting has no impact on the main characters or the writing, which is that of a modern YA novel. On the other hand, while predictable, the characters are interesting and behave in relatively logical wa...
And I’d become used to long days of walking with the packhorses. But the next two days tried me nonetheless. The clouds brought several heavy bursts of rain and the wind was sharp. We travelled slowly to spare the horses as they were accomplishing the whole journey without changes. We broke the j...
I’d looked forward to having a roof over my head once more, but now that I did, I found the cellar room airless and stuffy. I listened to all the men snoring in the darkness and wondered how it could be so hot at night-time. I longed to go outside to breathe fresh air, but that would have meant g...
Olvir took him aside and had a long talk with him. It was a stern talk and Ulf listened with eyes downcast and a red face. And then Olvir embraced his son with surprising tenderness and led him back to me by the hand. ‘Stay with Thora, do as she bids you, and make me proud,’ he ordered Ulf. Then ...
Jenny and I rode by day and slept in haystacks and barns by night. When we could find nowhere suitable, or when the need to wash overcame us, we took a night in a cheap inn somewhere. Usually these places were so full of bedbugs and men who thought that girls travelling alone must be easy of virt...
The landlady of this dreadful place seems to be taking it as a personal insult that I don’t wish to board the ferry to America. She repeats the word indignantly over and over again. ‘Ja, ja! Amerika!’ She points out to the harbour again, where a large ship lies at berth. Most of my fellow lodgers...
I tried hard not to think of previous Christmases and not to wonder more than a few times a day how my own family were doing. Will spent a couple of days with a slight fever, but then improved quickly as his arm healed. He seemed cheerful. The constraint that he’d shown after I told him my story ...