The Sprig of Broom
This book, the second in the Mantlemass series, was runner-up for the Guardian Award in 1972. It opens in 1506, in the reign of Henry VII, and ends as the young Henry VIII ascends the throne. The Tudors’ claim to the throne is not unassailable and treason is in the air…
Life in the Sussex Weald, however, is uneventful – or is it? Young Medley Plashet’s life is full of riddles. Why is his stonemason father Richard so secretive about his past? Why did he refuse to marry Medley’s mother? And who are the three men whose visit causes his father such distress? Medley knows that he’s been educated above his station and that his friendship with the squire’s son, Roger, will probably be dropped when they are older. Worse, his love for Roger’s sister, Catherine, can come to nothing. As Medley begins to unravel his father’s past he finds more dangers than he ever supposed.
Barbara Willard has the gift of illuminating the problems of adolescence; the highs and lows, the dawning understanding and the moments of rebellion. She also deals with class, ambition, honour and self-sacrifice. We see Medley change from a boy, painfully conscious of his bastardy, to a man who knows who he is. She is not afraid to write about emotion – I found myself in tears several times – but there are also the joys of friendship and love.
I was absolutely gripped by this book. As Kevin Crossley-Holland says in his introduction, ‘You know you’re in the hands of the most artful and cunning story-teller who gives you little or no time to recover from one situation before plunging you into another, some of them spirited, some heart-breaking, some a matter of life and death, many revealing the pains of ‘the mid-way years’ of adolescence.’
Highly recommended.
