Her marriage must suit her drunken father's financial needs, and though the 14-year-old scares off several suitors (she pretends to be mad, sets fire to the privy one is using, etc.), in the end she's "betrothed and betrayed.'' Meanwhile, she observes Edward I's England with keen curiosity and an open mind, paints a mural in her chamber, evades womanly tasks whenever possible, reports that-ladylike or no- "I always have strong feelings and they are quite painful until I let them out,'' and chooses her own special profanity, "God's thumbs.'' At year's end she makes peace with her family and acquires, beyond hope, a possibly compatible betrothed (they have yet to meet). That is all there is to say''-but is soon confiding her pranks and troubles in fascinating detail.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on Augby Margriet Ruurs.Unwillingly keeping a journal at the behest of her brother, a monk, Birdy (daughter of a 13th-century knight) makes a terse first entry-"I am bit by fleas and plagued by family. I imagine that, if I had lived in the Middle Ages, I would have wanted to be just like spunky Catherine.
I picked this book for my ‘favorite books ever’ list because of the main character’s witty voice. Unfortunately, he is also the richest.Ĭan a sharp-tongued, high-spirited, clever young maiden with a mind of her own actually lose the battle against an ill-mannered, piglike lord and an unimaginative, greedy toad of a father?ĭeus! Not if Catherine has anything to say about it! One, by setting the outhouse on fire when he’s inside… Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call - by far the oldest, ugliest, most revolting suitor of them all. Even though she’s only a young teenager, because the day and age is the Middle Ages and this is a glimpse of real life back then.īy wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. “Corpus Bones! I utterly loathe my life.”Ĭatherine’s father is determined to marry her off to a rich man - any rich man, no matter how awful.
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