'I do not want to be a lady. I want to be a wool merchant.'
In the mid-fifteenth century all women, but especially girls like Maude Reed, were subject to the whims and wishes of their parents until they were married. No argument allowed. So Maude, 11-year-old daughter of a gently-born Lady, is sent off to Beauclaire Castle to learn to become a copy of her mother.
She learns courtly manners, needlework, reading and writing and how to deal with the politics of her situation in the castle. More to her taste, though, she makes friends with the boys in the castle, especially Henry Rancon, himself destined to become a knight, and spends what leisure time she has with them while they learn and practise their training in arms.
All that changes, though, when her twin brother Walter arrives to announce that he has left home to become a travelling musician and does not want to follow into the family wool business. Could this be Maude's chance?
Leaving the castle on Christmas Day, Maude heads back to her family home and into a series of adventures...