The Peace Child — Ann Phillips

"A drawn sword lay on the table, with its point towards Alys. She looked at it and shivered, not only with cold. There were ten of the family around the table in the high, dark room. Their emotions seemed to Alys to vibrate in the air just as the light from the many candles shimmered and shook. There seemed to be anger there, and grief."
Set in the fourteenth century, amidst the Peasants' Revolt and the Great Plague, this is the story of a spirited young girl torn between two hostile families. She is Alys, the Peace Child.