In 1573, thirteen year old Margaret "Meggy" Swann goes to live with her father in London. To state it more close to the facts: her mother, an ale house mistress, sends her away. Meggy's told her father "sent for her"; but when she and her goose Louise arrive in London--in dirty, smelly Crooked Lane at the house at the Sign of the Sun, she finds he was expecting a son...not a crippled daughter. Meggy was born with what today would be called bilateral hip dysphasia, and she moves with difficulty and a distinct limp. In the Elizabethan countryside, people with any mark or disability were often spurned & Meggy has had her share of that. (And the attitude in certainly not scarce in London town either).
Now, she's in very unfamiliar territory with a parent even less interested in her needs than the other one was and her only friend is a drooped-wing goose. She's understandably prickly, suspicious, and angry. This father of hers who barely acknowledges her (she calls him Master Peevish) is an Alchemist and he spends all his time in his laboritorium on the third floor of their tiny, dingy house. Meggy has to fend for herself with the sometimes help of her father's former apprentice Roger Oldham (whom she often calls "Oldmeat").
Very slowly she makes what one might call slight acquaintances: the Cooper and his young son, a Printer and his family, the Actors in Roger's troop...but what's she to do when she thinks her father {about whom she still has mixed feelings} might be mixed up in something that could get him tossed into the Clink or even end up with his head on a pike on London Bridge?
Cushman has written another fine historical...closest in shape and style to her Newbery Award winning The Midwife's Apprentice but with all the feisty heart of Catherine Called Birdy. Meggy is a grumbly yet endearing heroine who will win over readers of any age. (Book says 10 to 14, but skilled younger readers will do fine). Check it out for your young fans of historicals (and sneak to read it yourself).
You know I read a lot. Though I enjoy much of what I read, it is a rare book that I can honestly say "I hated to see it end." And I can say it without reservation of this one. Though the tale was perfectly shaped, I wouldn't have minded reading much more about Meggy.