To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek

Monday, Nov. 23, 2020--San Antonio

To Calais, In Ordinary Time by James Meek is a story set in 1348 with various stories colliding and unfolding as it progresses:  1) A young man who should be free since his father was free but who is considered a serf by the landowner (local lord) decides the only way to get is freedom is to to use his skill as a bowman in the war in France.  The right to buy his freedom for 5 pounds with the spoils he will gain in France is his demand to the lord for signing up to represent his manor region in the war.  2)  A young daughter of the same lord is trying to escape an arranged marriage by her father who has promised her to an old neighboring lord in return for the neighboring lord promising his own daughter to him.  She is fascinated by the story of a romance novel she is reading and repelled by the idea of being married to an old man, so she runs away to find the man she loves who is off fighting in France where he has been given property for his accomplishments in battle.  3) A local serf in charge of the pigs runs off to follow the young bowman whom he has loved since childhood and takes a disguise as an unknown twin sister to make his escape and to try to appeal to the bowman (who identifies as heterosexual and is engaged to a local woman) as someone he can come to love.  4)  A group of bowmen who are traveling back to France for further fighting have with them a French woman who has been their captive since they killed her father and raped her and have strict rules of conduct and obediency for the bowmen in their group to follow.  The French woman faces regular abuse from the bowman who has claimed her as his own and tries to keep all other men at a distance from her.  5)  The plague has been raging in France and starts making its entry into England as all these people move toward the port where they are to catch a boat to go to France.  Reading the story is complicated due to the use of so many words from the local dialect when the bowmen and others who are not formally educated speak.  It's an interesting story, but I almost gave up on it due to the difficulty of the language.  Eventually I was invested in all of the characters to the point that I wanted to continue reading to know what would happen.  I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.