Barbara Burgess

Idun's Tale Barbara Burgess

What would you do if you were a young girl and your whole family was destroyed by the plague? Idun, a young Norwegian girl, is smart and has the will to survive. She lives in the barn with a family of animals and rides out the Great Plague which decimated much of the world's population in the Middle Ages. Based in part on a Norwegian folktale, this story is the author's retelling and reinvention. The plague wiped out much of the population in Medieval Europe and Asia. However, despite all the terrible devastation, a few good things emerged afterwards. Due to the vastly decreased human population, forests sprang up in Europe and animals returned to their abandoned natural habitats. The end of the disease that plagued people during the Middle Ages also marked the beginning of the end of feudalism. Labourers were in short supply; this offered many poor people the opportunity to earn better and achieve more for themselves and their families. Indeed, the end of the Black Death (the plague) in Europe led in part to the dawning emergence of a middle class.