The Executioner's Daughter

by Jane Hardstaff

Overview

All her life, Moss has lived in the Tower of London with her father, who serves as the executioner for King Henry VIII. Prisoners condemned to death must face Pa and his axe—and Moss catches their severed heads. Her father insists he has no choice: if he leaves the Tower, he will be killed. But Moss can't bear to be the executioner's daughter any longer. When she finally finds a way out of the Tower, she discovers the river holds more dangers than she imagined—including the Riverwitch's curse. The Riverwitch once helped Moss's family in exchange for a terrible bargain; now she expects Moss to pay the debt.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606845639
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	268
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	9 - 13 Years

About the Author

Jane Hardstaff is a TV producer who lives in London, England, near the River Thames. When she is not working as a TV producer, Jane enjoys writing novels for young readers.

Editorial Reviews

"Set in England during the reign of Henry VIII, Hardstaff's debut is a fast-moving and suspenseful adventure starring motherless 11-year-old Moss, who has lived all her life on London's Tower Hill. Moss's father's job is to behead the Tower prisoners; hers is to carry away the severed heads in a basket. Jeered at as 'basket girl,' Moss despises beheadings, but her father has always told her they themselves are prisoners whose lives are spared only because he serves as the king's executioner. When Moss discovers that this is a lie—and that she is living under a curse from the Riverwitch who saved her as a newborn—she runs away, embarking on a hand-to-mouth existence filled with indignities and dangers, often accompanied by a generous young thief, who shares what little he has with Moss. Searching for the place she was conceived and aware that she is living on borrowed time, Moss is a headstrong, emotional, and determined heroine. Hardstaff believably conveys the gritty details of life on the edge in the context of historical events of the era."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2016-01-09
When she tries to save her neck, a young girl learns there are dangers outside the dungeon too. Brought to the Tower of London as a motherless baby, 12-year-old Moss hates her limited life and reviled role as the basket girl, carrying the heads of the newly decapitated after Pa beheads Henry VIII's prisoners. She loves stories, like the one of the Riverwitch, but she rebels when she doubts her father's tales of their ties to the tower. Seizing the first chance at freedom, Moss plunges right into the Thames and danger. She hobnobs with nobles, befriends a boot thief, and tangles with the supernatural spirit who tries to lure children beneath the icy surface. Hardstaff gambles with her blend of fiction and folklore and her compression of dates, but she excels with her depiction of Tudor England, offering lavish descriptions of clothing and food, a moderate amount of lower-class dialect, and a slew of stench and grime. Anne Boleyn comes off a bit too prescient and moralistic to be believed, but court politics get an arch appraisal. Unhampered by any real historical role yet propelled by the fairy-tale undercurrent, Moss shifts, rebellious adolescent, clever child, and fortuitous historical-fiction heroine by turn. A richly detailed debut with a classic feel, full of grit, gore, and gilt. (Historical fantasy. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews