• Age: 10 to 14
• Grade: 5 to 8

Medieval Scotland, a time of French-speaking Normans occupying the land with Gaelic-speaking Scots, a time of jousts, of miraculous healings at famous sites, and of fairies in the forest.

Sixteen-year-old Jenny, the second daughter of a lord, is thrust into the role of the eldest daughter, including marrying well, when her sister Isabel shames the family by sneaking out of her father’s house with the intention of marrying a knight. But everything went wrong, and Isabel is back in the family in penance, awaiting her fate - will she have to spend the rest of her life with Cistercian nuns? Jenny is concerned for her sister, who seems to have shut out her entire family.

In the meantime, Jenny attracts the attention of a well-placed Scottish family, which has been charged with finding King David’s brother, Earl William, a wife. Eager to please her father, she travels to various households, attends jousts, and tries hard to win the Earl’s (a well-known womanizer) affection. Yet a strange newcomer, rumoured to have been touched by fairies, has come into her life. Although her father has warned her not to, Jenny can't help visiting the nearby ruined house, where Tam is residing. Tam is unlike any man she has ever met, and she finds herself confiding in him. But Is he helping her or is he having fun with her? And why does she feel so strangely attracted to this man who doesn’t seem to be from this life?

Janet McNaughton was fifteen when she began to write her first book - a historical novel for young readers. She did not finish it, but did learn she loved finding out how people lived and thought in the past. This led her to study folklore in university and eventually brought her to Newfoundland. After completing a Ph.D in Folklore, she returned to her first love, writing for young readers.
Ms. McGrath is the winner of the Violet Downey National Chapter of the IODE Book Award (best Canadian English Language Children's Book), Ann Conner Brimer Award for Children's Literature in Atlantic Canada, and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People. She has also been short-listed for the Mr. Christie Book Award, the Blue Heron Book Award and the CLA Young Adult Book Award. Most recently she has been nominated for the 1998 Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Literature, 1998 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction and the 1998 Red Maple Reading Award.
Janet also reviews books for Quill & Quire and Atlantic Books Today. She has also contributed to Canadian Bookseller, Books in Canada, and Canadian Author. Janet writes essays for adult literacy education and sometimes does radio commentary. She currently resides in St. John's with her husband and daughter.

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