A good story, in a really interesting setting -- a medical practitioner's alley in a medieval town. I'm astonished that everyone puts up with Matilda's obnoxious upbringing, but I love that they do. They treat her with kindness, and show her a different way, and Matilda eventually blossoms. ( )

Im not as fond of the protagonist in this one but I did enjoy reading about medieval life and medicine, and appreciating the fact that despite its downfalls modern healthcare does not involve leeches. ( )

Taking place in medieval England, orphaned Matilda is not at all pleased when she arrives at Blood and Bone Alley to become an assistant to Red Peg the Bonesetter. She is a religious, well-educated girl who can't picture herself doing dirty chores or helping sickly patients. Self-centered Matilda thinks no one understands her. But Peg does, and gives her time to get used to this new way of life and teaches her through kindness and friendship. Grades 3-7; 8-12 years old.

I listened to audiobook but I also own a physical copy because I love this story.

"Sometimes I feel like a duck living with chickens. I look different, I quack different, I walk different. I use to think there was something wrong with the chickens. But lately I am wondering if it is me.”

“you may not be this or that but use the tools you do have. What you know, what you have learned… use it, value it, it is your wealth.”

“…the saints would not be telling her what life she should live and how she should live it. She should make her own decisions and her own way.”

Peg’s trusted that Matilda would learn, she was not judgmental."
----------------------

I loved this book for it’s support of a person's discovery of themselves and their aloneness and individual strength. ( )

Interesting but not enjoyable. I disliked Matilda at the beginning for being so limp and priggish - then I began to seriously dislike Father L for messing her up so badly. What did he have in mind, or did he even think about her future? Happy ending (or at least hopeful), eventually, but it was a real slog getting there. The stuff about medieval medicine was interesting - mostly I knew it, but as dry facts. Having characters live it made it much richer. Glad I read it, I might read more by her, but I don't think I'll ever want to reread this. ( )