Voigt creates a vivid picture of medieval life, the hard work, the harsh environment, the rigid class system, and the violence and suffering that was a part of that life. In one of the first episodes in the book, when Gwyn helps the old woman with her basket of food, they come upon a scene where the violence has already occurred. The old woman's husband is a helpless invalid; he was injured long ago when a horse rode over him while the Lord's were hunting. And now, while he was alone, three robbers had stolen their only goat and killed their dog, which they left lying in the snow outside the hut.

Later, when Gwyn travels with her family to the fair for a day of weddings and festivities, she looks up to see the body of a man "hung from a scaffold, its head down...