The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh

The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh is set at the Crowfield Abbey in 1347.  Will is an orphan who has taken refuge at the abbey in exchange for working in the kitchen for the monks.  While gathering firewood one afternoon, Will comes across a very small, injured creature in an animal trap.  He is a hob, and Will has never seen anything like him.  Will decides to take him back to the abbey in hopes that one of the monks will be able to heal him.  Will must be careful, though, because he knows most of the monks would not approve of such a mysterious creature.  Through his healing, Will becomes friends with the hob, whom he calls Brother Walter, and learns bits and pieces of a secret the monks in at Crowfield have worked very hard to conceal for more than 100 years.  One winter Prior Ardo, the monk in charge while Abbott Simon's health is dwindling, allows two strange and unexpected guests to lodge at the abbey.  Will knows they are not human, but can't quite figure out what they are doing at the abbey.  That is, until Will learns a little too much about the secret the monks are so desperate to keep and finds out about the Crowfield Curse.

This was an awesome book!  I absolutely loved it!!  It kept me wanting to come back for more and more - I had a hard time putting it down.  I really liked the characters of Will and Brother Walter.  I especially liked the fantasy elements of the story and how most of the monks were so sheltered from that side of the world, despite being entrenched in it.  I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy.