England in the year 1377. Thirteen-Year-old Crispin, has no parents, no home, no name. Yet he is being pursued, and his life is threatened. As he seeks to find out why, he must first learn who and what he is.
We tend to think of medieval times in terms of castles, knights, kings and queens. And surely, they were there. But that’s not the way most people lived. What you’ll find here is an accurate depiction of those times from the point of view of an ordinary person. There is much that is strange—how do you live without clocks, or books, English or freedom? For 1377 is a time in which much than is modern is just beginning to come alive. Perhaps the most interesting thing is the emergence of the individual, a sense that each person is unique. We haven’t always believed that way. In short, this a story about a young adult at a time when our culture was also young. That it’s exciting, and sometimes rough, is simply the way it was.