Bet feels confined by her place—neither family nor servant—in the home of her wealthy benefactor. Will, the boy who’s been like a brother to her since they were four, is unhappy with his fate as well. So Bet makes a plan: She’ll pretend she’s a boy and take Will’s place at school.
When she arrives at school, Bet finds boys act rather brutish when they don’t think there’s a girl in their midst. But brutish Bet can handle it. It’s the stirrings of attraction for her roommate that get Bet into real trouble.
With nods to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Yentl the Yeshiva Boy, Bet’s descriptive, intimate, first-person narrative incorporates historical details and diverse characters, including adult female allies at school...historical-fiction fans will likely find Bet an appealingly lively heroine as she pursues her dreams and makes unexpected discoveries in learning, life, and love. --
Booklist
Prologue
Everything I needed to wear beneath my clothes was already in place.
I selected a shirt the color of unspoiled snow, eased my arms into
the sleeves, slowly did up the buttons from narrow waist to chest and
finally to neck. It felt peculiar to wear something on my upper body,
in particular my waist, that did not bind my skin like a glove. How
odd not to feel constricted where one expected to. The trousers that I
slid up over the slight swell of my hips were made of black superfine
wool, and I buttoned these as well. This was even more peculiar, the
sensation of the expensive fabric against my calves and thighs.
A sound in the outer hallway brought me up short. Was someone
coming? The threat of intrusion, of discovery before I’d finished,
terrified me. It was a danger I lived with daily, as natural to my new
life as a lack of danger l#@
![The Education of Bet [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/9/7/9/2_311543.jpg "The Education of Bet [Paperback] xxx")