Historical Fiction

The book's title refers to a legendary, masked outlaw hero called Jackaroo but there is a lot less dramatic derring-do than I expected. It's quieter, slower, more thoughtful. A coming-of-age story about an innkeeper's daughter, exploring her relationship with her family and the changes she faces.
Yet Jackaroo is a most appropriate title for this story, for it is also about the reasons why someone might step outside the laws of their society and take on the mantle of Jackaroo.

At 16, Gwyn is meant to either accept a husband or announce her intention to never marry, and is unhappy with the narrow choices before her. She is also becoming more aware of the hardship and inequality in the kingdom: the common folk struggle with grief and poverty and injustice, while the lords in their cities are too busy squabbling for power to care.

But when a lord staying at the inn asks for servants to accompany him around the surrounding countryside, Gwyn is sent on a trip that does not go to plan and that changes her perspective in unexpected ways.

I loved the way all the pieces of Gwyn's story fitted together - her uncertainty about her future, her growing understanding of her family, her concerns about her community and her frustration at not knowing how to address the problems she could see. I loved the way Jackaroo is thematically relevant to Gwyn's life.

She felt alone, even there in her own kitchen with a fire at her back. But it didn't feel like her own kitchen, not any more, and her family were strangers [...] They were wearing masks. It would hurt them if they knew she had noticed; and it wouldn't do any good for her to be angry, it wouldn't change what had happened.
Gwyn didn't want to think about it, because it frightened her to realise how little she belonged here, the one place where she belonged more than any other place. So she changed the subject. ( )

Cynthia Voigt wrote a series of books about a kingdom in a far off land, in a far off time, in a far off place. And I have never even heard of them!! I'ver read many of her other books, Izzy Willy Nilly, Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue and I have really enjoyed them. So - how did I miss these??

Jackaroo is the March book for our new family book club and I was excited to read a well-loved author in a completely different way!

Jackaroo is a fable - a made up character who swoops in and saves the downtrodden just like Robin Hood. He wears a mask - appears and disappears in a moment. And he is the savior of the people. That is what they are called - the people. There are also Lords and Earls and a King. But they are far off - and rarely seen. The Kingdom is carried along by the people who toil in the Inns, and the fields and barely make it. Because the Lords and Ladies take their money for taxes. The people are not allowed to learn to read. They work and they live and then they die - young!

Gwynn is an Innkeeper's daughter who has refused to marry and knows she will spend her days working for her brother when he runs the Inn - women are not allowed to run a business. And then there is a mysterious Lord and his son who show up at the Inn and ask for Gwynn and her servant to take them on a mapping trip. And then there is a snowstorm!

Gwynn is stranded in a cottage - snowed in - with a moody young Lord who is not to speak to her. And then she makes an unexpected discovery.

I really liked Gwynn. She is the girl that I wanted to be - sure of herself and willing to take the consequences of changing the world she lives in for what she needs. And with her courage she is able to see the world make a little change!

Great start to the series ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It was a much stronger told story than Voigt's more experimental Orfe. All the characters get a chance to mature over the course of Jackaroo and enough loose ends are tied up by the conclusion to give the book a satisifying sense of closure while still leaving the Kingdom interesting enough to start off a series of book. I certainly will want to read more of the books in this series! The book would have been even better if Voigt had tightened up the first half of the book where she introduces Gwyn and her motivations for her adventures in the second half of the book. ( )

Teen fantasy about a girl having the courage to defy her family and her village and become a swashbuckling hero. LH ( )