A Kestrel For A Knave

A Kestrel for a Knave opens with an epigraph from the book of Saint Albans, a medieval manuscript about hunting. It describes a hierarchy of birds of prey corresponding to the social classes of the time. The lowest of these is the kestrel, which is metaphorically paired with the “knave.”

The narrative opens early in the morning in a cold, curtainless room. The 14-year-old protagonist, Billy Casper, shares a bed with his older brother, Jud. Jud’s alarm goes off to wake him for his shift in the coal mines. Billy expresses worry about Jud ignoring it, and Jud strikes him. When Jud does finally get up, he pulls the covers off of Billy and mocks him, saying that soon he’ll be joining him on the way to the mines.

Once Jud leaves, Billy gets up. There’s no food in the house, and after lighting the fire, he leaves to do his paper route. Outside, he finds that Jud has stolen his bicycle, forcing him to run to work. He was recently picked up by police for delinquent behavior and works to pay off his fine. He arrives at the newsagent just in time.