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Like The Oracle Glass, this requires a bit more work than a 1970s New York story. For one thing, everyone knows what the background is in a more familiar setting. There are a lot of things that don't need explaining in a contempory story, the clothing, the social structure, the attitudes, even what is or is not a crime. These all have to be set out in an historical tale, and Judith Merkle Riley does them very well.
However here the job is even more difficult than in The Oracle Glass by the same author. That was set in pre-revolutionary France, amoung the upper classes, where peoples view of the world had at least some points in common with ours. This novel, by contrast, is set in the 1350s, in England, and, because the people are accurately portrayed, they are just about impossible to work out. Judith seems well aware of this and spends more time and care in explaining the characters thinking and motivation, and this is very welcome, because otherwise we would be bewildered as to why, for example, a wealthy woman finds it almost impossible to hire a scribe.
As I mentioned in my review of To Say Nothing of the Dog, if a realistic novel is set in the Middle ages, then it will be horrible and gruesome. There is not much you can do about that. Even the lives of pampered nobles would be considered abject poverty and privation by todays more civilised standards. To quote numbers, current figures for child mortality and average lifespan in the poorest countries of Sub Saharan Africa are much better than those of the Middle Ages in Europe. Of course the dark ages were, as the name implies, worse...
This book gives a clear depiction of this, and so some scenes would perhaps cause distress in the more nauseous readers, or those who prefer their middle ages as depicted in Disney movies. Such people can remain thankful that Ms Riley just mentioned eating off trenchers, and didn't describe the impliments in question.
On the other hand, if you want gritty realism in your fiction, if you'd like to learn more about society in the 1350s, and you want a fascinating story, then this is for you.
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