A Sword in Her Hand

November 1, 2011

Gr 7-9-Through a broad reimagining of the life of Marguerite von Male, the last heiress of the Count of Flanders, the repression, ugliness, and grandeur of the Middle Ages are brought to life. Despite her mother's many pregnancies and labors, Marguerite remains the sole offspring of the Count of Flanders. Repeatedly told by her father that she is unwanted and a joke, Marguerite withdraws from him. Despising the normal trappings of young womanhood, she plays pranks and secretly takes fencing lessons. Soon after her 14th birthday, she is betrothed to Prince Edmund, the youngest son of the British king. Although initially resistant, Marguerite is wooed through letters; after Edmund's visit greatly disappoints, she enters into a new arrangement with Philip, nephew to the French king. Although the authors include a massive amount of information about 14th-century Belgian court life, history, fencing, and other matters involving Middle Ages nobility, they manage to incorporate such details through memorable and fascinating characters and scenes. Gruesome events are handled with frankness. Back matter includes notes about the real Marguerite (1348-1405) and the authors' writing process. Although the story is in the same vein as other historical fiction featuring brave young women flailing against the social conventions of their time, the deft characterization of Marguerite and the sumptuous details woven throughout this captivating novel will engage readers.-Jennifer Schultz, Fauquier County Public Library, Warrenton, VA

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Grades 7-10 This unusual historical-fiction novel, translated from the Flemish, is loosely based on the fragmented records of the life of Marguerite van Male, who lived in the late fourteenth century during the Hundred Years' War and the Great Plague. Marguerite's birth is an ill-omened and difficult one, leaving her father, the Count of Flanders, dismayed that she is not a boy. After disastrous efforts to produce a male heir, her mother goes mad with despair, leaving Marguerite the sole heir. Growing up spirited, haughty, and uncompromising, Marguerite and her father frequently quarrel over appropriate womanly behavior (she'd rather take fencing lessons than embroidery) and the political advantages of her marriage with France or England. Although the book is historically accurate, especially in its detailed portrayal of daily life and warfare in the Middle Ages, the language is anachronistically modern and casual, though Marguerite's use of present tense does give her story an immediacy. An author's note about the real Marguerite van Male is helpful, though further-reading resources would have been nice, too.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)