Gatty's Tale [Hardcover]

Kevin Crossley-Hollan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2006

In the year 1203, nine pilgrims set out on a pilgrimage. The journey - on foot, on horseback and by sea - is fraught with danger. Not all of them will come safely home. Among them is Gatty, whose whole life has been spent working in the fields. Bright, eager and resolute, she is at the heart of a huge, ambitious novel that sweeps across Europe to Jerusalem. All the pilgrims endure aches and pains, homesickness and terrible loss; they are prey to thieves and murdererers; but it is Gatty, whose impulsiveness lands her in desperate trouble, who is transformed by the experience. With knuckle-biting drama, tremendous emotional highs and lows, and unforgettable characters, Kevin Crossley-Holland paints a wonderfully vivid picture of the world of the Middle Ages that answers the question so many readers have asked, of what happens to Gatty.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'My top pick this month... Kevin Crossley-Holland's depiction of the medieval setting is meticulous, but ultimately this is a novel about heart and song, with the capacity to lift the spirits and move to tears.' -- Nikki Gamble THE BOOKSELLER '[Gatty] rises from the pages, staunch, resolute, frank, sincere and so alive that you feel you could almost touch her... an epic, sweeping book, perfectly realised.' -- Jill Murphy THEBOOKBAG.CO.UK 'The fourth and final part of this remarkable series of books based on Arthurian legends. Gatty, the peasant girl full of courage and spirit sets off on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, hoping to meet Arthur who has gone on Crusade. All of medieval Europe is brought to life.' UNDERCOVER (Heywood Hill Bookshop) 'one of our most acclaimed and successful children's prose writers.' -- Peter Stanford THE INDEPENDENT 'Chapters are wonderfully crafted, short and accessible... Passages on Gatty's experiences in London, Venice and Jerusalem are startling in their beauty and musicality.' -- Colin Mills BOOKS FOR KEEPS 'Crossley-Holland's taut, gutsy, ever-inventive prose lifts the Middle Ages and all its sights, smells, privations and wonders off the page. This is a classic odyssey and a crossover novel that both adults and young people will cherish.' -- Elaine Williams TES 'As ever, Kevin Crossley-Holland writes with his special blend of the precise, the poetic adn the demotic, and imbues his tale with the colour, freshness and vigour of a Renaissance painting. And, again, his instinct for that characteristic medieval amalgam of the spiritual and th earthbound is unerring. But this is Gatty's book. Graceful, homely, profound, beautiful, strong, dignified, and Everywoman: a great liteary creation. Her presence lingers, like a perfume.' -- Chris Stephenson CAROUSEL 'a masterful celebration of the medieval world...Crossley-Holland stitches a tapestry of 13th-century art that will long adorn the wall of imaginative minds.' -- Colin Gardiner OXFORD TIMES 'It can't be long before the name Kevin Crossley-Holland is uttered in the same sentence as 'national institution'. His writing is evocative, lively and sharp; he brings history to life on the page so well that readers barely realise they are learning as well as enjoying fiction... There are moments when your eyes will brim with tears and when you feel inspired by such and audacious exercise to praise God. Throughout, you will be swept away.' -- Jayne Howarth BIRMINGHAM POST 'Gatty, the feisty farm girl, stars in her own adventure, Gatty's Tale. She is an engaging heroine, funny and self-reliant, as always. Rich in historical detail, this impressive book takes her to Jerusalem on a 13th-century pilgrimage. A very satisfying read.' -- Georgia Metcalfe DAILY MAIL 'Crossley-Holland is something of a wizard when it comes to evoking the texture of everyday medieval life... Gatty's Tale is a lovely addition to [his] magical re-imagining of the medieval world.' -- Kathryn Hughes THE GUARDIAN 'skilfully wrought and compelling... [Gatty's] transformation from ignorant peasant to accomplished and educated young lady is encapsulated exquisitely in the image of her gorgeous silk gown emerging from he cocoon fo the rough, grey material of her pilgrim's cloak as she is reunited with Arthur in the aisle of the church.' -- Carole Redford INIS (Ireland) 'The heroine of this novel belongs to a medieval world as luminously coloured, as closely linked to nature and as drenched in spirituality as the illuminations in a book of hours... The medieval perception that the pattern of Christ's life is deeply imprinted on time and human life comes across beautifully.' -- Julian Margaret Gibbs THE TABLET 'The weight of research undertaken by Crossley-Holland is palpable... his descriptions of life on the Marches, across Europe and the Middle East resonate with grubby realism... However... the author infuses the saga with enchantment.' -- Natalie Bushe THE HERALD (Glasgow) 'written with exquisite simplicity and subtlety, and with an utterly satisfying finale. There is a Canterbury Tales feel about the range of characters as Gatty travels to the East. They illuminate an age which shared all our modern emotions but interpreted their surroundings differently. Read this one aloud: you'll enjoy the song in its writing every bit as much as your children do.' -- Christina Hardyment THE INDEPENDENT 'Readers will be enchanted by this rich and fascinating book. It will gladden their hearts, test their compassion, fuel their thinking and challenge their assumptions about faith, life and humanity.' WRITE AWAY 'Many features of the text intrigue me, including the faint but discernible echoes of earlier travellers' tales. The feeling of the long time the journey takes is in counterpoint with the speed of events. The onward thrust of the narrative is sustained by the continuous, interactive talk of the pilgrims.' -- Margaret Meek SCHOOL LIBRARIAN 'One of the joys of this book is its clear, poetic depection of this extraordinary journey.' -- Ann Turnbull HISTORICAL NOVELS REVIEW 'a really good adventure story... The setting is medieval Europe and the author gives a vivid picture of what life was like at that time.' -- Hannah Jones TEEN TITLES 'This exciting story is peppered with memorable characters and the parallels between the religious climate at the time of the crusades and today are particularly relevant.' BOOKTRUST BEST BOOK GUIDE 2007

About the Author

In his distinguished career as an author, KCH has won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Carnegie Medal. His notable books for adults and children include poetry, classic retellings and anthologies. He has written and presented many BBC radio programmes and is a frequent speaker at schools and libraries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Orion Children's Books (October 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842552732
• ISBN-13: 978-1842552735
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,548,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gatty is back! Hurrah!, February 5, 2007

By 

Cecile H. Dorr "Low county librarian" (SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gatty's Tale (Hardcover)

I am so very pleased (at last) to read the further adventures of our beloved Gatty. I loved Arthur, but Gatty stole my heart. Kevin has outdone himself on this one. It is so believeable and filled with samples of Gatty's wisdom, like "One is one and..." It is wonderful to see her adventureousness and yet see a maturing young woman evolving. This book reveals one of Kevin's finest characters. It is the only book that I have ever read the last chapter first. I just had to know. I hope that the door is open for further adventures. The historical information is accurate and so generous in the story that we truly have an inside view of life in the Middle Ages. A wonderful read for any age.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely, LOVELY book!, December 4, 2007

By 

Rose Green (Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gatty's Tale (Hardcover)

Of all four lovely, lyrical books in this series, Gatty's Tale is the best. I was sucked in from the very first page. Crossley-Holland uses just the right words and none extra to give us Gatty's voice. Gatty goes to Jerusalem for herself--but also as proxy for the people she loves. The writing is personal and specific, and I felt that although she is a fictional character, she was proxy for me, the reader, as well.

I read the previous review (where the reader couldn't resist, and read the last chapter first), and forced myself not to peek. But I was very satisfied with the ending when I got there! (And yet it still looks like there could be another book out of it.) Thank you, Mr. Crossley-Holland--well done!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I Seen Despair and I Know What Hope Buys...", May 20, 2009

By 

R. M. Fisher "Raye" (New Zealand = Middle Earth!) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Gatty's Tale (Hardcover)

I picked up this book from the library on an impulse: my current topic of interest is the Crusades, and "Gatty's Tale", looked as though it would satisfy this itch. Chronicling the journey of a young girl who undertakes a pilgrimage, Kevin Crossley-Holland takes his spunky little protagonist on a fascinating journey from Wales to Jerusalem, as well as from girlhood to womanhood.

The year is 1203, and Gatty is a fifteen year old field-girl employed by Lady Gwyneth de Ewloe as a chamber-servant to accompany her on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Lady Gwyneth wants to travel to Jerusalem to obtain forgiveness from some as-yet unknown sin, and has gathered together nine pilgrims to make the journey with her across Europe to the heart of the world.

The pilgrims are an assorted lot: a husband and wife, a music teacher, a lady-in-waiting, a priest, a cook...all of them make up an extended family as they brave the perils of the journey over mountain and across desert, and we are with them as they squabble, pray, suffer, tell stories, joke and grieve their way across Europe in a fellowship that is not unlike those of "The Canterbury Tales." As they say, it is the journey and not the destination that is important, and not one of our pilgrims, least of all Gatty herself, is left unchanged by the experiences and trials they go through.

Although I'm no expert on the subject, the book seems to be meticulously researched, and Holland has a gift of making medieval life seem real and immediate. One of the greatest challenges of writing historical-fiction is to not only make the past come to life, but to write in a way in which the differences between then and now are integrated into the story itself, and not presented to the reader as story-halting info-dumps. Holland expertly weaves the day-to-day life of the pilgrims into the narrative without alienating or confusing the reader.

Gatty makes for a lovely young heroine. Although only a field-girl, she is impulsive, bright, compassionate and possesses an innate sense of wisdom and openness to the world around her that makes for several thought-provoking moments. She compares her journey to a story that contains several forever-unknown stories within it, referring to the people she meets or sees on her way, and on returning from her great pilgrimage and attempts to share her experiences with a friend she realizes that "no one is really quite as interested in us as we are in ourselves."

Holland also gifts her with a beautiful singing voice that grows and develops at the same rate that she does, and has a solid grasp on her speech patterns that provide much of the charm of this book. All of it serves to make Gatty a living, breathing young woman and one of the most vivid characters I've come across in a long time.

However, not all of Gatty's companions make it to the Holy Land; in fact most are abruptly dropped from the narrative, not from death, but other extenuating circumstances. Sadly, once they are gone we never meet up with (most of) them again. Perhaps this adds to the realism of the book, in that we loose some people along the way, but from a storytelling perspective, it feels as though Holland simply got tired of them and wrote them out of the story. But by this stage, I had grown quite attached to some of the pilgrims, and was disappointed that we never got to see them again (and only discover their fates from a third-hand account).

It also became apparent to me early on, that this story was in fact a "spin-off" of sorts from the award-winning Arthur trilogy, which I have yet to read. Although I immensely enjoyed "Gatty's Tale," I'm sure that it would have carried more meaning and resonance for me if I had read the previous trilogy, in which Gatty's life, friendships and personality were established. Though I highly recommend "Gatty's Tale," I'd first recommend tracking down The Seeing Stone - Arthur Trilogy, Book One and its sequels in order to get a firmer grasp on Gatty's history and what she means to the author.