Book
Brother Dusty-Feet
First published 1952
Elizabethan England. Hugh Copplestone runs away from an abusive household with his dog Argos, hoping to reach Oxford and the world of the New Learning. On the road he falls in with a company of travelling players and discovers a life of rehearsals, makeshift stages, village audiences and constant movement.
The players offer Hugh fellowship and practical education, but their freedom is precarious in a society suspicious of masterless people. Encounters with jugglers, ballad sellers, quack doctors and local officials broaden his understanding of the country through which he walks. His time as one of the “dusty-feet” does not erase his scholarly ambition; it gives him the confidence and human experience needed to pursue it.
More from this period
5 more top-rated novels about Elizabethan Travelling Players and Theatre
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
More by the author
Other books by Rosemary Sutcliff
Discover more
Authors similar to Rosemary Sutcliff
Recommended from shared genres and periods.
Henry Treece
35 books
Geoffrey Trease
44 books
Victor Canning
21 books
Gillian Bradshaw
20 books
Marion Zimmer Bradley
8 books