The Way Home is a grim picture of life in fourteenth-century England. It depicts the grinding poverty and narrow social choices open to the peasants and accentuates the harshness of existence amid the growing pall of the Black Death. The only thing that saves the book from slipping into the abyss of despair is the characterization of Anne. Her stalwart courage and her ability to endure hardship balance the grimness and lift the novel's tone to one of hope.

Anne is an intriguing, multifaceted heroine. As befits real life, she is not all good; she is drawn with a frankness that approaches antihero status. For example, she scoffs at fellow villagers, steals wood from the baron's forest, woos the baron's falcon to keep it for herself, kills a hen without hesitation, and exacts revenge against those who mock her harelip. It is in the...