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"The Book of the Maidservant" by Rebecca Barnhouse

Author:

Rebecca Barnhouse

Publisher:

Random House Books for Young Readers

Barnhouse, Rebecca. The Book of the Maidservant  Random House, New York, 2009.

Loosely based on The Book of Margery Kemp, the first autobiography in English, The Book of the Maidservant is the story of Johanna, a teenage girl in service to Dame Margery, a wealthy, pious woman while on a religious pilgrimage from England to Rome.  Dame Margery is quite the character, always loudly crying out and preaching to others, vociferously suffering just as she supposes Mary did when Jesus was crucified. Despite her religious pretenses, Dame Margery is generally unkind toward others, especially her maidservant. They travel in a group with a priest, a merchant, two students, and a married couple. Johanna must cook, wash and mend for all those in her traveling party.  Nonetheless, she does form a bond with one of the students who treats her with dignity and inspires her ambitions and imagination. Eventually abandoned by her mistress, Johanna must find her own way to Rome, facing dangers along the way.

Rebecca Barnhouse, a medieval historian, takes care to wrap the culture of the middle ages around Johanna’s story.  Some vocabulary will be unfamiliar to readers, but most can be discerned in context.  Johanna thoughts and decisions are very much shaped by the Catholic Church, and the confines and trials of medieval life.  Told in the first person from Johanna’s point of view, the reader walks with Johanna – feeling her discomfort and anger, understanding her fears and the confidence she feels when finally treated with the respect she deserves at the English hospice in Rome. An excellent book to pair with the study of medieval history, The Book of the Maidservant is well-researched and realistically portrays life in the middle ages.  Recommended for grades 6-10.

Kristine Wildner, Holy Apostles School, New Berlin, WI