Chapter 17 Summary: Grain Prices, a Riot, and a Capital Charge
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
After receiving their pay, Sal and Joanie pay rent and buy bread at inflated prices—a standard loaf now costs one shilling and two pence, up from seven pence a year earlier. They settle for salt cod after finding fresh meat too expensive. At home, they discover Joanie's elderly aunt, Dottie, has died of starvation and cold. Meanwhile, at the Assembly Rooms, Elsie Latimer attends a double wedding party for Howard Hornbeam and Bel Marsh and for Deborah Hornbeam and Will Riddick. She observes Kenelm Mackintosh's ambitions and argues with Amos Barrowfield about marriage. On St. Adolphus Day, Sal, Joanie, and Jarge go to the market hoping for bargains, but prices remain high. At a grain auction, a hundred-bushel lot sells at an exorbitant price to Silas Child, a merchant from Combe. The crowd learns the grain is destined for France, the enemy. Women follow the cart to the riverside chanting "Bread and peace." Alderman Hornbeam orders Will Riddick to muster the militia. The militiamen, reluctant to fire on their own neighbors, fail to discharge their muskets—Freddie Caines feigns damp gunpowder. Riddick grabs a musket to fire himself, but Sal hits him with a stone, knocking him unconscious. A bargee strikes Sal with a board. Joanie negotiates with Child: she sells the grain to Kingsbridge bakers at pre-war prices, and the bakers promise to sell loaves for seven pence. Despite preventing theft, Joanie is charged with capital riot. At the petty sessions, she cross-examines the bargee witness Joby Darke and exposes contradictions in his story, but the packed jury commits her for trial at the assizes.
Key Events
- Sal and Joanie pay rent and struggle with the rising cost of bread and meat.
- Dottie is found dead of starvation in her attic room.
- Elsie and Amos argue about Mackintosh's motives for courting her; Amos suggests Mackintosh wants to marry Elsie for advancement.
- At the St. Adolphus Day fair, grain is auctioned at an impossibly high price to Silas Child, who plans to ship it to France.
- Sal dispatches Kit and Sue to follow the grain cart; they confirm it is being loaded onto Child's barge.
- Hornbeam orders Riddick to muster the militia, but the men refuse to fire on the crowd.
- Sal knocks Riddick unconscious with a stone; a bargee knocks Sal out with a board.
- Joanie takes command, sells the grain to Kingsbridge bakers at pre-war prices, and secures a promise of seven-pence loaves.
- Joanie is charged with capital riot despite having prevented theft.
- At the hearing, Joanie's cross-examination exposes contradictions in Darke's account, but the jury commits her for trial.
Character Development
Sal demonstrates courage and quick thinking by throwing the stone that takes down Riddick, but she is also surprised by Jarge's emotional vulnerability after the bargee knocks her out. Her decision to kiss Jarge in the barn reveals a long-buried desire and her recognition that she has undervalued him. Joanie emerges as a natural leader: she keeps the crowd from stealing, negotiates a fair price with Child, and then defends herself cleverly in court, exposing the bargee witness's lies. Yet her sharp tongue may have worked against her with the jury. Jarge breaks down in tears when he thinks Sal might die, revealing that his love for her has never faded. Elsie shows frustration with both Mackintosh's sycophancy and Amos's dismissive assumptions about her future. Amos reveals jealousy and an inability to read Elsie's feelings, and he dances with Jane Midwinter out of pique. Will Riddick shows fury and impotence when his soldiers refuse to obey. Alderman Hornbeam orchestrates a packed jury and exercises ruthless control over the legal process.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Class conflict is the chapter's dominant theme: the gap between the wealthy wedding guests feasting on ham and oranges and the mill hands who cannot afford bread could not be starker. Grain operates as a symbol of life and power—who controls it controls the town. The crowd follows the grain cart as if following a flag. Moral versus legal justice appears when Joanie does the right thing (preventing theft, selling at a fair price) yet faces execution for riot. The body politic is mirrored in Dottie's corpse: when the old and weak die because food is scarce, the entire social order is failing. The militia's mutiny reinforces the idea that ordinary people, even when armed, will not fire on their own kind when the cause is unjust. The "Bread and peace" slogan links economic survival to anti-war sentiment.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter marks a turning point in the town's political consciousness: the hands move from grumbling to direct action, the militia refuses to enforce the will of the rich, and Joanie—despite her legal peril—demonstrates that ordinary women can lead and negotiate. The chapter also advances Sal and Jarge's relationship from unspoken affection to intimacy. The committal of Joanie for trial sets up a high-stakes legal confrontation at the assizes, where the capital charge could be used to make an example of a popular protest leader.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Joanie face a capital charge for riot when she prevented the crowd from stealing the grain?
The justices, led by Hornbeam, see Joanie as a threat to their authority and the established economic order. By selling the grain at a controlled price, she undermined the principle that the market—controlled by speculators and wealthy landowners—should set prices. A conviction would deter others from organizing collective action.
2. What does the militia's refusal to fire reveal about the social dynamics in Kingsbridge?
The militiamen are drawn from the same community as the protesters; they share the same economic struggles. Freddie Caines's claim of damp gunpowder is a pretext, but the mass failure of twenty-five guns signals a deliberate refusal. The rank and file will not enforce the interests of the wealthy against their own friends and families.
3. How does Sal's encounter with Jarge in the barn foreshadow future developments?
The physical intimacy between Sal and Jarge establishes a romantic bond that had been dormant since the start of the novel. If Joanie is convicted and executed, Sal may need to take even greater responsibility—and Jarge is now clearly committed to protecting her. The relationship may also complicate their work at Hornbeam's mill, should Jarge's allegiance become known.