At 16, Ælfwyn is the sheltered, educated, only daughter of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. When her mother dies suddenly, her uncle, King Edward, needs to be sure of Mercia’s loyalty. But can his niece deliver it? When he learns that Ælfwyn has been visited by King Wilfrid of Northumbria, Edward gives the girl an ultimatum: marry one of his allies or become a nun. Wanting neither, Ælfwyn flees, cutting off her hair to disguise herself as a boy storyteller. With a new name (Widsith, meaning “far traveler”), Ælfwyn supports herself by telling stories until Wilfrid demands her help in his plot against Edward. Torn between the memory of her mother and her admiration for Wilfrid, Ælfwyn must make a harrowing choice.

This is a gripping historical novel set in the days of Anglo-Saxon England. Tingle weaves her story on a loose 10th-century framework, imagining a fate for an Ælfwyn who disappeared suddenly from historical records. Tingle’s medieval England tastes and feels real. Her knowledge of Old English poetry is woven through the story, as Ælfwyn draws upon her learning to survive in a world where stories and poems are valuable currency. Ælfwyn is a believable heroine – at first frightened, barely able to ride a horse, and slow to take action. Her disguise and deception (though relatively short-lived) are plausible, and her grief at her mother’s death, her emotional development, and her hard-won courage are depicted with skill. Although this is a challenging read, Tingle’s notes help young fans of historical fiction to make sense of this distant but exciting time.