If you are a young boy time traveling to 14th century Wales, you might as well find yourself the heir to a great Norman family learning all the necessary skills and duties of a leader, with experiences so intense your life is threatened and you have something astonishing to tell your friends and family when you return.

And that is exactly what Peter Staunton did.

Hiking up the mountain, Carn Eglwys, Peter notices something in the dirt. A glove, until he puts it on, and realizes it is an old gauntlet from centuries ago. He gets dizzy, hears shouts, hoof beats, the clanging of metal on metal. And as his head clears he sees a man on horseback asking for the gauntlet he has lost which is in Peter’s hand. He recognizes the boy as Peter de Blois, heir to Castle Carreg Cennen and hoists him onto his horse to be taken home. As luck would have it, this Peter is on his way home from a four-year absence due to illness and upon greeting his mother and father it is expected he would be changed. As the modern Peter fumbles his way through the customs and rules of castle life, it is chalked up to the long separation.

Peter has come home at a new stage in his life as the oldest son and heir and is ready to be taught the skills of his position. The modern Peter is aware how lucky he is to participate in what he has only read about. He is instructed in falconry, archery, heraldry and stays in the nearby Abbey for a few days where he learns his spelling is bad. “It is sonne, not son and manne, not man!”

One of the most alarming events Peter suffers through is his first dinner with the family, where Lady Marian, his mother, finds him deficient in the rules of dining etiquette correcting him in the proper way to blow his nose while at the table, how to eat with his fingers, that it is respectful to the host that everyone eat with gusto letting the gravy dribble down the cheek, and to not wipe your hands on the tablecloth. It is great fun to learn along with Peter all the historical details of daily life!

But there is tension in the de Blois household regarding the Welsh and their desire to get their land back from these Norman occupiers by any means necessary, which is why Peter’s training is so serious. When Castle Carreg Cennen is attacked Peter first escapes in order to alert neighboring families for help. Returning as the siege intensifies, he is ambushed, his enemies close in, consciousness fades and he awakens to a plane buzzing overhead and a calm sunny day….

Did Peter Staunton really find himself in 14th century Wales when he picked up the old glove while hiking around Castle Carreg Cennen or did he dream those adventures?

I wish the ending was more clear. His friend Gwyn, with whom he is staying, and his family try to talk Peter out of the experience by suggesting it was a dream based on all the reading he has been doing during his visit. But Peter knows what he felt, knows the gauntlet was the key….and I do too!

This middle grade novel has all the fun and adventure of the time period for readers of any age!