The Midwife's Apprentice

Cushman's "Catherine Called Birdy" was shortlisted for the 1996 WHS Mind-Boggling Books Award.

A homeless waif named Brat roams the villages of 14th-century England, sleeping in dung heaps and begging for scraps. But then Brat meets Jane the midwife, the lady with the starched wimple who needs a helper. Brat becomes the midwife's apprentice, a person with a name and a place in the world.