The year of our lord 1290, Catherine (or Birdy to some) is aged 13 and struggling to be a lady.
Birdy’s father is moderately wealthy with 10 servants and many tenants on his land, and he has expectations of his only daughter. But thoughts of marrying well, keeping demure, quiet, and submissive are far from Birdy’s mind. She would much rather be…
“…crusading, swinging my sword at heathens, and sleeping under starry skies on the other end of the world.”
Keen for adventure, even if only in the confines of their manor home and land, Birdy is mischievous, feisty and strong of opinion. This often lands her locked up in her room doing embroidery or…
“Corpus Bones!”
…the most dreaded task of all. Sewing seam edges on sheets. Birdy’s songs (unbecoming for a lady, let alone at the table with company) land her in her room, and not before a clip around the air or a smack somewhere else from her father.
Writing a diary is a suggestion from one of her brothers and she takes to it pleased at least it doesn’t involve a needle. She is also given a book of saints with their special dates and she heads up each diary entry with a short sentence on that day’s saint.
Even at only 13, suitors arrive to ask for her hand in marriage, but Birdy finds ways to despatch them again, often before they meet her father. There is other match making happening among peasant and lords alike. This unfortunately loses her a friend and a relative – both close to her heart. When another match is arranged for her, the usual deterrents don’t work and she begins to truly despair.
He is the worst suitor of them all and Birdy is running out of time…
Both hilarious and horrendous at the same time, Catherine, called Birdy (due to her menagerie of birds hanging from her bedroom ceiling) is also a movie based on this book on Amazon Prime.
It’s 1290 and Birdy is funny, quick-witted and keen for adventure, no matter how small. She behaves more like the farm boys than the lady she has been raised to be, and her feisty temper is more entertaining than annoying. The horrendous part is because it is common practice in the 13th century to marry girls off as young as 10 years old. Sometimes it’s to men older than their fathers, or even to much younger rich boys.
Despite this practice, I laughed out loud throughout the book at Birdy’s diary entries and thoughts. Her teenage mind was brilliantly portrayed and I completely understand the desire to take Catherine, called Birdy from the page to the screen.
Author – Karen Cushman
Age – 13+
(1994, 2022, Macmillan, 13th Century, High Middle Ages, Lords and Ladies, Wealthy, Aristocrats, Arranged Marriages, Feasts, Saints, Diary Entries, Funny, Humour, Love, Crush, Broken hearts, Monks, Feisty, Temper, Wants to be a boy, Trickery, Amenable, Pliant, Baby brides, Herbs, Healing)