Fleeing from the evil Sir Philip Morton, Peter Brownrigg finds himself on the wrong side of the law. On the run to London he meets Kit and the two decide to stick together. But a chance discovery endangers their lives and soon Peter is deep in murderous plots, secrets and even treason.

Set in the turbulent days of Elizabeth I, this classic story of danger and intrigue conjures up a world of mystery, twists and turns and thrilling action.

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Detail

Author: Geoffrey Trease

Format: Paperback

Size: 129 mm x 198 mm

Pages: 368

Reading age:  9 - 12 years

Staff Review

This is truly a children's classic, first published in 1940 and still published in Puffin today.

Telling the story of young Peter Brownrigg, who finds himself on the wrong side if the law in Elizabethan England, escaping his native Cumbria he flees to London, where he finds himself at the playhouse (The Curtain) with Shakespeare and embroiled in a plot to murder Queen Elizabeth herself.

The story moves at a good pace, with plenty of twists and treachery, and you are never sure who you can trust, and Trease illustrates well the intrigue around Elizabeth, and the many plots against her. In his other famous children's book "Bows against the Barons" his political stance (he was of the Left in the 1930s writing plays for the Labour Movement's Unity Theatre) is clear, as he does show that the lot of the ordinary person against a local Lord, (and he gives us a top "baddie" here in the person of Sir Philip) was not easy, with "the great chain of being" placing you in your position in life. The book has much to recommend it as well, with strong female characters (not always seen in children's books of the period) backed with excellent historic detail, and at the back of the book is  a quiz on the story and much detail about the period both when the book was set and when it was written, a helpful glossary of words the intended young readers may be unfamiliar with, and a potted biography of Shakespeare too.

Review by Clive, Globe Tour Guide 

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