It’s 1306 and 11 year-old Marjorie Bruce is delighted when her dad Robert is crowned King of Scotland. She is now a Princess, something she has dreamed about being for many years. In the troubling times of the world she lives in, she holds her family dear as battles are won and lost and her elusive step-mother grows ever distant. Drastic changes occur within the hierarchy around her and she finds herself captured. The long road south beckons as she cowers in her makeshift carriage. Unaware of what fate awaits her, she spends the journey praying that her dad and uncle will rescue her soon but on arrival in her new home she is left to the elements in an open cage in the square with villagers who mock her and tell the Princess that her life as she has known it, will never be the same again. Marjorie takes it all on board, determined to survive and see her father once again.

Writer Jane Yolen has penned over 365 books, a legend in the creative world, so I was delighted to see her name along with Robert J Harris acknowledged for ‘Girl in a Cage’.

Girl In A Cage is an engrossing read from the first page due to the immersion of the reader into Marjorie’s privileged life from the word go. Yolen and Harris have created a superb look back into history adding their unique styles to a story many may not be aware of. Told from Marjorie’s point of view, the sense of loss and grief comes flooding out the pages as I, the reader, stayed up into the wee small hours because I just couldn’t put it down.