A rollicking adventure set in medieval England about a heroine who refuses to live by other people's rules. Judith of Nesscliffe is 13 years old and her stepfather thinks it's time she married. Her future husband is at least 30 years older than she is and already has five daughters--some of them older than Judith. Now he wants a son and heir. Judith has other ideas. Wearing boys' clothing to disguise herself, Judith becomes Jude and runs away from home. With only a falcon for company, she sets out on a 150-mile journey to join the King's Minstrels. Along the way, she is attacked by thieves and forced to defend herself against the advances of a young woman who thinks that "Jude" would make an ideal husband. But she also finds her own true love as well as a way to live the life she chooses.

As a popular history (it) has considerable merits and offers a number of interesting suggestions. SPECULUM

Family entertainment. Suitable for all ages. Fourteenth Century France Amos Questerly, a wandering minstrel takes on a mysterious young apprentice. But his new protege, Richard, carries a deadly secret. A secret someone is willing to kill for. To reach safety they must earn their way to England by telling exciting stories of magical swords, princesses, and dragons, while danger follows on their heels. By the time Amos learns Richard's secret, it's clear even England may not be safe. The two, trapped in an adventure as thrilling as any of the minstrel's tales, must follow a perilous path that leads straight to the halls of the Royal Palace.

A sword-swinging page-turner infused with a heady mix of Japanese etiquette, American ideals, and Machiavellian philosophy, written by a PEN/Faulkner Award winner.

A collection of novellas from the New York Times–bestselling author—“arguably America’s foremost master of the novella . . . A force of nature on the page” (The Washington Post). The Mark Twain Award–winning author of Legends of the Fall delivers three novellas that highlight his phenomenal range as a writer, shot through with his trademark wit and keen insight into the human condition. Harrison has fun with his own reputation in the title novella, about an aging writer in Montana who weathers the slings and arrows of literary success and tries to cope with the sow he buys on a whim and the unplanned litter of piglets that follows soon after. In Eggs, a Montana woman reminisces about collecting eggs at her grandparents’ country house. Years later, having never had a child, she attempts to do so. And in The Case of the Howling Buddhas, retired Detective Sunderson—a recurring character from Harrison’s New York Times bestseller The Great Leader and The Big Seven—is hired to investigate a bizarre cult that achieves satori by howling along with howler monkeys at the zoo. “Still independent, fierce and feral,” The Ancient Minstrel confirms Jim Harrison as one of the most cherished and important writers in modern America (David Gates, The New York Times).

Born into a family of prominent thinkers, intellectuals and professors, A. C. Benson and several of his brothers would later apply their imaginative gifts in an unusual way: advancing the horror genre. This comprehensive collection brings together most of the spine-chilling ghost stories that Benson produced throughout his career.

Alaric, a young minstrel with a talent for magic, roamed the lands in search of his fortune. And in Castle Royale, it seemed he had found both his fortune and his true love, the beautiful Princess Solinde. But could a penniless orphan hope to claim such a royal treasure?