Why You'll Love This
A medieval teenage girl weaponizes wit and sheer stubbornness against every man trying to sell her off — and she's furious, funny, and completely alive on the page.
- Great if you want: a feisty, feminist voice trapped in the wrong century
- The experience: breezy and warm — diary format makes it fly by
- The writing: Cushman nails medieval texture without ever feeling like homework
- Skip if: you want plot stakes — it's more character than consequence
About This Book
It's medieval England, and fourteen-year-old Catherine—nicknamed Birdy—has exactly one problem worth solving: her father intends to auction her off in marriage to the highest bidder, and the bidders keep getting worse. What could have been a grim historical predicament becomes something far more alive in Cushman's hands, because Birdy herself is furiously, hilariously, stubbornly alive. Her struggle isn't just about escaping an arranged marriage—it's about a young woman discovering the limits of her world and refusing, loudly and creatively, to accept them. The stakes feel both intimate and universal, which is why this story set in 1290 reads with an urgency that never feels dusty.
The book is structured as Birdy's diary, and that form does something remarkable: it makes the reader feel like a co-conspirator rather than an observer. Cushman's prose is sharp and funny without ever winking too hard at the modern reader, and Birdy's voice—irreverent, self-aware, occasionally self-contradicting—feels genuinely earned rather than retrofitted. The historical detail is rich but worn lightly, tucked into rants and observations rather than lessons. This is a book that trusts its reader completely, and that trust makes every page a pleasure.