It tells of how a homeless girl becomes a midwife's apprentice—and establishes a name and a place in the world, and learns to hope and overcome failure.

Mary Beth Dunhouse, chair of the Newbery Award Selection Committee, wrote of the book, "The reader is drawn in from the first sentence when the author speaks of a 'rotting and moiling heap.

"[1] In an interview in Scholastic Magazine, Ms. Cushman says, "The book took about 9 months to write, the same length of time it takes to make a child.

She wakes up to the taunts of village boys, and the words of the harsh and uncaring Jane Sharp, the local midwife.

She returns to the village to check on him, and their reunion is like that of a brother and sister, but Alyce can't stay for long.

Filled with a new sense of self-purpose, she returns to the midwife's home and asks to be her apprentice again, declaring she won't stop coming to Jane's door until she's allowed back, and she will work harder than ever.