Pagan's Scribe — Catherine Jinks

"Rich in authentic detail, humor, grief, and deep insight into the life of the mind as well as the heart, this makes a fitting close to a high-water mark in historical fiction." -- KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

Impressed by the bookish Isidore, Pagan Kidrouk -- now Archdeacon of Carcassonne -- hires the boy as his scribe. Eager to flee a cloistered existence, naive Isidore quickly discovers that the real world isn't all as the poets and philosophers claim. The year is 1209, and papal forcesfrom the north are driving their bloody crusade against the Cathar hereticsto Carcassonne. With the battle lines inching ever closer, the world ofFather Pagan, Lord Roland, and Roland's mysterious brother grows more real to Isidore -- and more terrifying -- by the day. The last of four books inan acclaimed series, PAGAN'S SCRIBE casts the worldly,wisecracking Pagan in an unexpected role as friend and mentor to a young soulin need.