FEAST OF FOOLS

In this medieval drama set in a fictitious English cathedral town, British author Crowley uses historically inspired events to paint a stark picture of the perils of prejudice. The main character, John, had been an apprentice stone mason, working on the Cathedral of Saint Aelred, when an accident killed his father and crippled his foot. Taken in as a student at the choir school at the cathedral, John instantly makes an enemy in the bully Matthew, who believes that crooked things (and people) are evil; and just as quickly finds a friend in the good-natured Hugh. The first half of the story moves slowly. Crowley chronicles John's unhappy new life in great detail but without much subtlety, and the canons who run the school tend to run together. Finally, a mystery presents itself: one of the canons turns up dead, and Hugh goes missing not long after. Blame is immediately attached to a Jewish family to whom virtually everyone owes money. John, defying orders, talks with the Jewish suspects and not only becomes convinced of their innocence but, as someone who bears his own stigma, empathizes with them. The characters here lack the individuation needed to drive the author's message home, but readers with an interest in the period may find her adamantly unromantic treatment of it bracing—there are no noble knights or damsels in distress in her medieval Britain, just a vicious caste system and a populace that writhes under the thumb of a corrupt church. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)