The book begins with an account of Birdy’s daily activities, recorded in her diary, alongside vociferous complaints regarding her station in life: “I am bit by fleas and plagued by my family” (1). She yearns to be free of housework and women’s duties and wants to be out in the world “tumbling—or even ploughing”(4) with the other villagers. As the daughter of a country knight, she is privileged, but not privileged enough to have servants for all of her chores or to escape the duties of spinning yarn.

She envies her brothers, Thomas and Robert, who are both in the “king’s service”(3), and Edward, who is off to the abbey to become a monk, for their ability to determine their own fates, as she sees it. Her father, Rollo, is verbally and physically abusive towards her, wishing only to “sell me like a cheese to some lack-wit seeking a wife” (5). Her mother, Lady Aislinn, wants her to learn the docile traits of a true lady, while Birdy would rather embark on great adventures like her Uncle George, who recently came home from the crusades. She confides her secrets and desires to her menagerie of caged birds, which she “began to keep [.