North Side of the Tree. Maggie Prince
Читать онлайн.| Название | North Side of the Tree |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | Maggie Prince |
| Жанр | Книги для детей: прочее |
| Серия | |
| Издательство | Книги для детей: прочее |
| Год выпуска | 0 |
| isbn | 9780007393176 |
North Side of the Tree
MAGGIE PRINCE
For Chris, always
In transposing Beatrice’s story into modern English,the tone and content of her original narrativehave been preserved throughout,and her exact words wherever possible.
It is the late 1500s. Queen Elizabeth I is on the throne of England…
Contents
I walk the Old Corpse Road again. In the dawn light the woods are full of birdsong and the waking voices of sheep. Around me, oak and hazel trees are turning to red and gold and ruin.
I am on my way to visit my sister who is living at Wraithwaite Parsonage in order to avoid being killed by my father. I move carefully amongst the trees, because this is the way he may be coming home, tired and edgy from a night’s robbery on The King’s Strete, some miles to the east of us.
I do not wish to meet my father, but I am not in a position to criticise him, because I too have a secret. I am a traitor. Three people know it, and their silence is all that stands between me and being burnt at the stake.
I reach the rockface that makes the Old Corpse Road such a quick but difficult short-cut to our neighbouring village, and climb the steps cut into it, breathing in the earthy smells of autumn. Stunted yews and clumps of heather grow out