Author: Lois Hoadley Dick
Recommended Age: 12-14
Date Published: 1993
Genre: Historical Fiction
Summary: Cissy Nidd is the daughter of a jailer and thief. Forced to help conceal her father’s counterfeiting business, she must spread false coins throughout London and the surrounding English counties. But when she meets John Bunyan, a Dissenter preacher who happens to be imprisoned in their jail, she begins hearing about God’s redeeming grace, and how it could change her criminal life.
Notes from The Radical Reader:
- Noble Characters: Cissy Nidd hates the counterfeiting work her father forces her to do. But with the lives of her family at stake, and her own reputation forfeit if she stops, she continues spreading illegal coins throughout London. But when John Bunyan introduces her to the truth of Scripture and the possibility of a real relationship with Christ, will she continue her criminal work, or reveal to the authorities her treasonous crimes?
- Captivating Plots: Illegal meetings with Dissenter preachers. Hushed conversations in the jail with John Bunyan. Treacherous dealings in the streets of London. Everywhere she turns, Cissy Nidd is defying the Crown and evading its authorities. She knows that the truth of Scripture is something to stand for, but will she continue hiding her counterfeit dealings? Or will she expose her crimes and risk losing everything?
- Elaborate Worlds: From Bedford to London, we see England in the seventeenth century through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old girl. Through riots over England’s mandatory religious doctrines, to plagues spreading throughout the country, to the Great Fire of London that burns and destroys homes, Cissy Nidd is faced with the horrible task of keeping her criminal dealings a secret, or exposing the truth and condemning herself.
Noteworthy Elements:
- Violence: One of the characters in the story catches the plague as it sweeps through London. He begs Cissy for a pistol to end his pain, but she won’t give it to him.
- Sexual Tension: There are no explicit sexual or romantic scenes. At one point in the story, Cissy is almost kidnapped by the town constable who wants to “ruin her reputation” and make it appear as if she is in love with him. Cissy’s brother intervenes before anything occurs. No explicit language or detailed imagery is used.
