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Cecily's father has ruined her life. He's moving them to occupied Wales, where the king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least Cecily will finally be the lady of the house.
Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there herself, until the English destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now she must wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl.
While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners, Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And outside the city walls, tensions are rising ever higher - until finally they must reach the breaking point.
Ages 12+
"Starred Review. Two girls of very different degree are brought together unwillingly by the English conquest of Wales. ...Brilliant: a vision of history before the victors wrote it." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. [An] unusually honest portrait of the effects of power... [Coats] offers us a potent historical novel." - Horn Book
"A rich historical novel that challenges readers to think about universal ideas, such as true justice." - VOYA
"Coats's debut shifts gracefully between the two girls' perspectives, finding empathy for both." - Publishers Weekly
"[An] intriguing first novel... Coats' considerable research provides details of everyday life that ground this dark and sometimes brutal historical novel." - Booklist
This information about The Wicked and the Just was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
J. Anderson Coats has master's degrees in history and library science. She lives with her family in Washington State. Visit her online at www.jandersoncoats.com.
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