Lost John: A Young Outlaw in the Forest of Arden

by Barbara Leonie Picard, Beebliome Books (Editor)

A Young Outlaw ‘Lost John’—it was Sir Ralf who first gave him the nickname; he had said it in jest but it was true enough: he was John—John FitzWilliam, age fourteen, of East Holden in Berkshire—and he was lost—lost in the Forest of Arden, a prisoner in the stronghold of a band of robbers and outlaws, led by the notorious Sir Ralf the Red. John would never forget the day. He had run away from his stepfather, home he hated, in search of Sir Raoul de Farrars, the man who four years ago killed his father. Traveling northwards, hungry and alone, towards Warwick, he lost his way among the forest paths and fell into the rough hands of two of Sir calf’s men. This was the beginning of an adventure which would change the whole course of John’s life. He would never have believed, that first night in the stronghold, what vital part the proud, ruthless Sir Ralf and his son were to play in his future, nor how soon he was to come face to face with his father’s murderer.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens

289 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Barbara Leonie Picard's first book was published in 1949, and was followed by over twenty more, all of which received praise for the mature and thought-provoking fare they offered young readers. She is well-known for her re-tellings of Homer, Gilgamesh, and ancient myths for young readers.

Reviews

[Jenny H · Rating 5 out of 5]

One one level an adventure story about John who runs away from home and joins the outlaws in the greenwood ... but much, much, more.

Adrift in the lawless 12th century, where anybody owns only what they can defend, after his father's murder and his mother's remarriage to a man clearly bent on seizing his inheritance, John's goal is to avenge his father's death.
He falls in with a band of outlaws, and though initially forced to join them, he soon finds a home with them, and before long, a substitute father figure in their leader, Ralf the Red. But these are by no means Robin Hood and his Merry Men, and they rob and kill anybody who has anything worth taking. John has to confront the conflict between his loyalty to, and growing love for Ralf and the knowledge that he is becoming more and more complicit in the kind of brutality that he himself has suffered from.
Alain, Ralf's own rejected son, arrives and it is seen that he too feels the conflict between love, loyalty and what is right that is echoed in the dilemmas of other characters.
In the end it will take a catastrophe to free John, Alain and even Ralf from the trap they are entangled in and to achieve John's goal.