Gatty's Tale on the Carnegie Medal Shortlist!
Gatty's Tale
In the year 1203, nine companions set out on a great pilgrimage. The journey – on foot, on horseback and by sea – is fraught with danger. Not all of them will come home.
Among them is a girl called Gatty, whose whole life has been spent working in the fields, who has never been more than a few miles from home, who knows hunger and hardship and little else. Bright, eager and resolute, she is at the heart of this enthralling novel that sweeps across Europe towards Jerusalem, carrying the pilgrims through great highs and lows and knuckle-biting dramas.
Thieves and conmen; a vicious attack; storms and precipices; broken limbs and a heartbreaking bereavement; these are the challenges and terrors the pilgrims must face. But this is also a story of friendship and loyalty, bravery and sacrifice. Gatty’s curiosity and reckless impulsiveness land her in danger but also open her to new people and new ideas. Passionate with hope and love and longing, she is transformed by her experience, and discovers in herself the capacity to be far more than the simple field-girl she once was.
Will she reach Jerusalem? Will she return home, and see again the Welsh Marches and the one person she can tell her heart to?
This is the most marvellous of Kevin Crossley-Holland’s novels. It paints a picture of the medieval world, of Christians and Muslims, the great and the humble, that is dazzlingly vivid, humorous, and full of startling insights. We come to know the pilgrims intimately, as we listen to them bickering and praying and fearful and joking. And in Gatty -- beloved already by readers of the Arthur trilogy – we meet a living, breathing girl who must surely rank as one of the great fictional heroines
The hardback was published in October 2006 and the paperback in September 2007.
'Kevin Crossley-Holland's depiction of
the medieval setting is meticulous, but ultimately this is a novel about
heart and song, with the capacity to lift the spirits and move to tears.'
Bookseller
'Crossley Holland's writing is
superlative, bringing the medieval world sharply into focus. This really is
a historical novel of distinction.'
Publishing News
'This is an epic, sweeping book,
perfectly realised. Crossley-Holland doesn't put a foot wrong. The language
is spare and direct, never flamboyant, and yet it is energetic, vivid and
always dynamic … in Gatty we find a heroine we really could follow to the
end of time and back again.'
Thebookbag.co.uk
'Readers will be enchanted by this rich
and fascinating book. It will gladden their hearts, test their compassion,
fuel their thinking and challenge their assumptions about faith, life and
humanity.'
Write Away
'one of our most acclaimed and
successful children's prose writers.'
The Independent
'Chapters are wonderfully crafted,
short and accessible... Passages on Gatty's experiences in London, Venice
and Jerusalem are startling in their beauty and musicality.'
Books for Keeps
'Crossley-Holland's taut, gutsy,
ever-inventive prose lifts the Middle Ages and all its sights, smells,
privations and wonders off the page. This is a classic odyssey and a
crossover novel that both adults and young people will cherish.'
TES
'As ever, Kevin Crossley-Holland writes
with his special blend of the precise, the poetic and the demotic, and
imbues his tale with the colour, freshness and vigour of a Renaissance
painting. And, again, his instinct for that characteristic medieval amalgam
of the spiritual and the earthbound is unerring. But this is Gatty's book.
Graceful, homely, profound, beautiful, strong, dignified, and Everywoman: a
great literary creation. Her presence lingers, like a perfume.'
Carousel
'a masterful celebration of the
medieval world...Crossley-Holland stitches a tapestry of 13th-century art
that will long adorn the wall of imaginative minds.'
Oxford Times
'Gatty, the feisty farm girl, stars in
her own adventure, Gatty's Tale. She is an engaging heroine, funny
and self-reliant, as always. Rich in historical detail, this impressive book
takes her to Jerusalem on a 13th-century pilgrimage. A very satisfying
read.'
Daily Mail
'Crossley-Holland is something of a
wizard when it comes to evoking the texture of everyday medieval life...
Gatty's Tale is a lovely addition to [his] magical re-imagining of the
medieval world.'
The Guardian
'It can't be long before the name Kevin
Crossley-Holland is uttered in the same sentence as 'national institution'.
His writing is evocative, lively and sharp; he brings history to life on the
page so well that readers barely realise they are learning as well as
enjoying fiction... There are moments when your eyes will brim with tears
and when you feel inspired by such and audacious exercise to praise God.
Throughout, you will be swept away.'
Birmingham Post
'skilfully wrought and compelling...
[Gatty's] transformation from ignorant peasant to accomplished and educated
young lady is encapsulated exquisitely in the image of her gorgeous silk
gown emerging from he cocoon fo the rough, grey material of her pilgrim's
cloak as she is reunited with Arthur in the aisle of the church.'
Inis
'The heroine of this novel belongs to a
medieval world as luminously coloured, as closely linked to nature and as
drenched in spirituality as the illuminations in a book of hours.... The
medieval perception that the pattern of Christ's life is deeply imprinted on
time and human life comes across beautifully.'
The Tablet
'The weight of research undertaken by
Crossley-Holland is palpable... his descriptions of life on the Marches,
across Europe and the Middle East resonate with grubby realism... However...
the author infuses the saga with enchantment.'
The Herald (Glasgow)