Goodreads synopsis: Born into the family of an executioner, Lily has always been sheltered by her mother from the horrors of her father's occupation. While her mother assists her father in all his daily duties, Lily spends her time caring for her animals, collecting herbs, and playing alone in the forest. But when her ailing mother takes a turn for the worse, Lily is suddenly thrust into the paralyzing role of executioner's assistant.
Aside from preparing healing concoctions for the suffering and maimed, Lily must now accompany her father at the town executions, something she has never done before. Though she loves her father, the emotional burden of his disturbing profession is just too much for her to bear. Lily must find a way to change her destiny, no matter the consequences.
Set in medieval England, this well-researched and beautifully written novel tells the story of one girl's fight to rise above her fate.
My rating: 2 stars.
Content warnings: PG-13. A description of a beheading.
Thoughts: I wanted to like this book. The description was fascinating, and it sounded like it could be a really neat story with a lot of emotional depth and resonance. The problem was, how short the book really was. I think the author had a cool idea, and did a good amount of research as well to make the world and history seem real. But by targeting this book, presumably toward a younger audience, the book got kneecapped into something less than impressive. It was short, and there was barely enough time to really start to get into what was going on, before it was over. I just wanted so much more from this book. So much more richness and depth I think the author could have given had the target audience been a bit older, and the book been given more length to develop and grow. The idea was lovely, but I feel like very little actually happened, and none of it was particularly meaningful, so the entire thing fell flat. And that makes me sad.
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