I read this more than a month ago now, but it's stuck with me, as any good book does. Yolen and Harris do a marvelous job of pacing Marjorie Bruce's tale and of making it feel viscerally real. Marjorie's story is Scotland's story, and the story of Scotland's people; politics and daily life are woven together, and Marjorie learns that both require her considerable personal courage. Marjorie's narration moves back and forth between the long days of her captivity and the breakneck months leading up to it, allowing us to see not only her acts of valor and intelligence, but the ways she has learned to refine and govern these powers.
Girl in a Cage is apparently the second book in a planned quartet of Scottish history. Its story and characters stand alone, but I'd like to read the other books in the series; this one conveys so well the legendary victories and crushing defeats of Scottish wars against England. I'm reading other books now, about much later Scottish history, but my mental images are still very much affected by Yolen and Harris's images of rebellion, perilous flight, and noble pride.
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