Bondmaiden - B A Bradbury

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Résumé :
Lia heard footsteps. Not knowing what was happening was simply unbearable, and she turned her head in time to see Dagna hand Holmann a stick the length of his arm and as stout as his thumb. The overseer took a step closer...

Life is an endless round of toil and suffering for serfs in feudal Attland, and Lia finds herself subject to the whims of a harsh and cruel overseer when she's taken from her family and set to work in the kitchens of the castle. Floggings are given daily, as she quickly learns to her cost, and humiliations are no less common with pretty girls given no option but to share the overseer's bed.

An apparent change in fortunes sees Lia transferred to the royal household as Princess Elfrida's bondmaiden, but the princess is spoilt and selfish and relishes making her new servant's life a misery.

And Lia's situation becomes even more desperate when soldiers of a rival kingdom attack and capture the castle. She and Elfrida try to flee, knowing they'll get no mercy at the hands of the brutal invaders, only to fall into the clutches of looting soldiers and taken as spoils of war.

Prospects for the two young captives look grim, so does Lia have the resilience and courage to survive?...