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Matilda Bone, by Karen Cushman
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In her long-awaited new novel, Newbery medalist Karen Cushman assembles a cast of unforgettable characters in a fascinating and pungent setting: the medical quarter of a medieval English village. To Blood and Bone Alley, home of leech, barber-surgeon, and apothecary, comes Matilda, raised by a priest to be pious and learned, and now destined to assist Red Peg the Bonesetter. To Matilda’s dismay, her work will not involve Latin or writing, but lighting the fire, going to market, mixing plasters and poultices, and helping Peg treat patients. Matilda is appalled by the worldliness of her new surroundings and yearns for the days at the manor when all she did was study and pray. Lonely and misunderstood, she seems destined for a fate as tragic as that of any of the sharp-tongued saints she turns to for advice.
Filled with the witty dialogue and richly authentic detail that Karen Cushman’s work is known for, Matilda Bone is a compelling comic novel about a girl who learns to see herself and others clearly, to laugh, and to live contentedly in this world. Author’s note.
- Sales Rank: #519021 in eBooks
- Published on: 2000-10-16
- Released on: 2000-10-16
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Publishers Weekly
Fans of Cushman's previous medieval novels (Catherine, Called Birdy; The Midwife's Apprentice) may be disappointed with this historical adventure set in "Blood and Bone Alley" in the town of Chipping Bagthorpe. Unlike Catherine and Brat, heroines whose combination of rebelliousness and resourcefulness made them instantly likeable, 13-year-old Matilda is less winning than her supporting cast. The daughter of a wealthy lord's clerk and a mother who fled soon after her birth, Matilda finds herself orphaned when her father dies. As the novel opens, her self-appointed guardian, Father Leufredus, has just dropped her off at the meager lodgings of Red Peg the Bonesetter to learn Peg's trade. Fresh from the intolerant Father's tutelage, Matilda, in her zealous piety, snubs Peg and inadvertently thwarts the woman's work: more than once, while lost in prayer, the girl ruins a salve or a simple meal of porridge. Thus readers don't get the same insider's view of the bonesetter's apprenticeship that they saw of midwifery through Brat's eyes. The promise of a potential villain, Master Theobold, "the leading physick" who prizes money over healing, is never realized; the development of Matilda's friendship with another girl takes place mostly offstage; and, strangely, there are two denouements, in which Matilda makes the same realization that she has been wrong about Peg (one involving an ailing stranger whom she is treating, the other the apothecary's apprentice). Fiery Peg, her witty husband and her circle of friends will be the characters readers remember. Ages 10-14. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-8-A fascinating glimpse into the colorful life and times of the 14th century. Orphaned Matilda, 13, has lived the good life in a manor where she was well educated by Father Leufredus. Things change drastically, however, when he abandons her, leaving her to serve as an assistant to a bonesetter in return for food and shelter. Matilda is expected to cook the meals, tend the fire, and generally assist Red Peg. And Peg has her hands full dealing with this self-righteous, pious child who snobbishly sprinkles Latin in her everyday speech and continuously brags about her ability to read and write. Peg, however, allows Matilda time to ponder her new role and teaches her, by example, that kindness and friendship go a long way toward lessening the harshness of life in this small English village. Matilda constantly prays for help, guidance, and deliverance. The saints, and this child knows many, respond with humor and sometimes sound advice. The theology espoused by Matilda is consistent with the time period and Father Leufredus has taught her well. She has no thoughts of her own-only the musing and learning of Father Leufredus. She stiffly withholds herself from all attempts at friendship and kindness, and she feels more and more alone. However, when she meets a kitchen maid who joyfully introduces her to the market square, her eyes slowly open to the world around her. Readers witness her spiritual and emotional growth as she blossoms from a self-centered "nincompoop" to a compassionate, competent assistant. Cushman's character descriptions are spare, with each word carefully chosen to paint wonderful pictures. This humorous, frank look at life in the medical quarters in medieval times shows readers that love and compassion, laughter and companionship, are indeed the best medicine.
Kit Vaughan, Midlothian Middle School, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Matilda Bone joins Alyce, the midwife's apprentice, and Catherine called Birdy as Cushman's latest heroine of the Middle Ages. But in this story, setting not character takes precedence. Matilda has lived her 14 years in a manor house where Father Leufredus has taught her Latin and encouraged her fear of going to hell. Now, with the priest off to London, Matilda finds herself in Blood and Bone Alley where, much to her dismay, she's been apprenticed to Peg the Bonesetter. It's a whole new world for Matilda, who spends her time mentally conversing with saints and thinking herself better than those around her, as she begins to learn about healing. Bloodlettings, bone settings, foul remedies, and scary surgeries abound throughout the book, and it's easy to lose track of Matilda's evolution. It's the illness and the healing (and the death) that's the focal point here, not pious, whiny Matilda, who takes an inordinately long time to learn that the dependable, hardworking people she comes in contact with are worth more than the fools and cheaters whose learning she admires. Readers will find much of interest here, but it probably won't be the evolution of Matilda. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
So heavenly-minded, she's no earthly good
By Aletheia Knights
I had every reason to believe that I would love this book. I enjoy historical fiction, and I've long been fascinated by medieval Europe. Perhaps more importantly, I thought Matilda would be a character I could relate to. As a deeply spiritual intellectual forced by life circumstances to become less elitist and a little more grounded, I expected to see echoes of my own life in Matilda's story.
To some extent, I did - but I struggled to enjoy this book nevertheless. The author seems more interested in making a case against the stodginess of organized, orthodox religion than in showing the evolution of her character into a warm and helpful young woman. "Remember all I have taught you," the priest who has long been Matilda's guardian admonishes her, "about . . . the evils of joy and pleasure." Not "ungodly joy" or "sinful pleasure," but joy and pleasure in themselves. Father Leufredus is so transparently holier-than-thou that he's less an actual character than a straw man Cushman sets up just for the purpose of knocking him down. In reality, a medieval priest as devout at Leufredus is supposed to be would never have taken an orphan girl as his ward, no matter how clever he thought her; women were considered to be inherently carnal creatures, tempters of men, who were thought to be more naturally and properly preoccupied with spiritual matters. Even if he did, it's unlikely he would have raised her to be otiose and entitled; even those consecrated and cloistered in holy orders had to perform manual labor, as an exercise in obedience and humility. Matilda herself is a poor representative of the fruits of spiritual devotion; she spends her days thinking about martyred saints but her religion doesn't do a single thing to make her wiser, kinder, or more Christlike.
Cushman seems to have a bone to pick (no pun intended) with intellectuals as well as the Church in this book. Matilda's erudition is most often presented as ridiculous and foolish. (She tries to help a man with pains in his arm by recalling Latin nouns and contemplating theology.) Almost all the common, proudly unlearned folk are lovable and joyous, while everyone with a more scholarly background (with one exception, in the final chapter) is a pompous ass. The idea that Matilda can treasure and make use of her book-learning as well as her newly acquired people skills is hinted at, but never really explored.
I enjoyed the story, but the two-dimensional characterizations and gross oversimplification of reality to reflect Cushman's biases about organized religion seriously diminished the pleasure I might have taken in this book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Courage to my 12 year old self
By Christine
When I was 12-13 years old. I just moved to a new city, and nothing was working out (had a hard time making friends, things at home weren't good, lost motivation to do well in school). Picked up this book at my new middle school, and I felt Matilda Bone understood me. She was going through the same thing, and clinging on to the hope that things will get better or go back to normal (before moving to the city). Things did get better for Matilda, but things will not quite go back the same way (and maybe it is a good thing).
I am 21 years old now. And I wish I could thank Cushman for writing this book. It gave me courage through a very difficult time.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Karen Cushman does it again...
By ajuliea
Fourteen-year-old Matilda has only known a life of learning and prayer when she is sent by her guardian, Father Leufredus, to live in Blood and Bone Alley to be apprentice to Red Peg, the Bonesetter. The world she enters is nothing like the quiet life she left behind. Expectations of her are different as well: Whereas before, she studied Greek, Latin and the lives of saints, she is now expected to tend the fire, barter for goods at the market, and boil and brew Peg's lotions and tonics. She does her best to remain pious, shunning the people she meets, deeming them uneducated and unholy, and longs for her days at the country manor she left behind and for Father Leufredus.
At first, Matilda resists the friendships of patient Peg and the physician Margery, kindhearted Nathanial and loud, earthy Tom. Soon, however, she succumbs to her loneliness and befriends a kitchen maid named Tildy. Little by little, as, in her work, she eases the pain of sweet, long-suffering Sarah and warm, mothering Effie, Matilda learns compassion, sympathy, pity, and mercy. But the largest lesson Matilda learns occurs after Tildy is suddenly injured. To whom must Matilda run? To the proud, well-to-do, and learned Master Theobald, whom Matilda admired for his similarity to Father Leufredus? Or to the simple, hard-working folks of Blood and Bone Alley? Her transformation continues as she makes peace with her new life and her new home, becoming competent in her role as the bonesetter's apprentice and earning the last name "Bone" from her newest friend, Walter Mudd.
Karen Cushman, who earned a Newberry Honor in 1995 for Catherine, Called Birdy, and a Newberry Medal in 1996 for The Midwife's Apprentice, is comfortable writing historical fiction with a medieval backdrop. She gives a clear sense of what life was like in the time, from their daily meals, to their clothing styles. Notably, she writes dialogue that rings true to the time period but sacrifices no reading comprehension. Also to her credit, she creates the self-righteous and unlikable Matilda and makes the reader care for her and want her to grow. Cushman ends the story with an Author's Note that delineates the meticulousness with which the medical practices of the Middle Ages was researched. Once again with Matilda Bone, Cushman provides readers with a vivid window into the life of a young girl in the Middle Ages that will have broad appeal.
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