Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy accurately portrays the process and rules of arranged marriages but depicts the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290 partially inaccurately to make the storyline more entertaining. Catherine, Called Birdy is historically accurate when it describes several Jews traveling to London from other parts of England for King Edward I to expel them. In the novel, the Jews are travelling but seek shelter from the heavy rain. Catherine explains that the Jews must leave England because the King had ordered their expulsion. She further explains that the reason they are being expelled is because the King believes that Jews are “hell-born, wicked, and dangerous”
