Spider's Voice
Gloria Skurzynski
 Aran a young mute boy is about to give up hope of ever escaping his cruel and impoverished childhood with his guardians. He is sold as common trash and his life seems to fall into an ever growing misery. But then the charismatic scholar named Abelard hires him after rescuing him from captivity. Abelard is in need of a servant who will not speak of his affair with his student Eloise. Because he cannot speak his name, Aran had been nicknamed Spider. Spider accompanies the couple around France as they flee problems brought on by their forbidden passion. During one period in Brittany, Eloise teaches Spider to read, and he is able to use this skill and his talent for spinning wool to become the thread linking the two people he worships most. Abelard and Eloise are forced to temporarily separate while Eloise is pregnant with his child. Spider returns to his old home for a while where he finally learns how to speak. When he returns he sees how Abelard's child has grown. When he goes to visit Abelard, Abelard is so caught up in his own concerns he does not even notice Spider can now speak. Spider is devastated that his idol has been drained of the kind and giving should he once had and he slowly begins to hold Eloise as a new idol.