Troubadour

November 1, 2009
Gr 6-9-Thirteen-year-old Elinor de Sévignan, with her dark hair, brown complexion, and disdain for dancing, struggles to behave as a "donzela", the daughter of a lord. When she learns that her father has promised her in marriage to a man she doesn't love, she escapes the castle disguised as a "joglar", a young minstrel, and travels with a troubadour throughout the holdings of southeastern France. Even as Elinor lives with new freedom, powerful men plot a crusade against the Cathars, men and women of the region whose beliefs differ from those prescribed by the Catholic Church; war unfolds and thousands die. While "Troubadour" overflows with rich historical detail of 13th-century France, Hoffman's characterizations and plot depend most on statement rather than description. Though some readers will be drawn to the story, many will be left wishing for less plot and more detail, less period history and more emotional texture."Bethany Isaacson, Wheaton Regional Library, Silver Spring, MD"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2009
Grades 8-12 Hoffman, the author of the popular Stravaganza series, explores life in thirteenth-century Occitania in this challenging, plot-rich novel set during the Albigensian Crusade. When thirteen-year-old Elinor de S'vignan, the daughter of a nobleman, discovers that she is to be wed to a much older, ill-suited match, she secretly flees with a band of traveling minstrels. Disguised as a boy, Elinor enjoys performing songs for the nobles of southern France and hopes that her new life will reunite her with the dashing troubadour she pines for. However, history is not on Elinors side. The French army is moving through the region with the aim of stamping out the Cathars, a religious sect to which both the troubadour and members of Elinors family belong. As the crusaders plunder and brutalize, Elinor makes a grueling passage to Italy, where she begins to cope with the atrocities of the siege and piece together a life and romance of her own choosing. Fans of the authors Stravaganza series and the superb Falconers Knot may find the pacing of this novel a bit slow to start, but lovers of historical fiction will delight in its wealth of detail.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2010
Thirteen-year-old noblewoman Elinor flees an arranged marriage by disguising herself as a male troubadour. But in thirteenth-century France being a wandering poet can also mean being a spy, and Elinor must rely on new friends in order to survive. Hoffman provides readers with painstaking historical details, political intrigues, and engaging characters.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)