BARTHOLOMEW FAIR

From a well-known teller of contemporary tales, a confection of 16th-century society's lowborns and highbrows, meeting at a fair. Starving Will Shaw, Elizabeth I, and one of her filthiest kitchenmaids, two schoolboys, and wistful nouveau fiche Mr. Kempton (who's hoping to become ""Sir John"") are among the hundreds of colorful folk who make their way to Bartholomew Fair on a misty morning. The fog burns off; and by day's end, Will has eaten his fill and found a new life, while each of the others has been touched or changed in some way. The story begins slowly, but quickly picks up as, weaving together the humble and the mighty, Stolz presents a panorama of period details and frisky human foibles. Then, like any satisfying day at the fair, it is over--all too soon.