Catherine Monroe, The Barefoot Girl

The Barefoot Girl

Catherine Monroe

NAL, April 2006, $14.00

ISBN: 0451217713

Now elderly, Margharita looks back to when her life changed. In 1340 San Severino, Italy, fifteen-year-old Margharita works in the fields alongside her ten year old sister Teresa and her beloved Augustino, whom she hopes to marry one day soon. A gentleman arrives at her family home and she realizes he was the one staring at her in the market place. Papa informs Margharita that she will wed the handsome outsider Master Domenico Vasari. Margharita is stunned that not only was she sold, but she will leave those she loves to live with a stranger.

Domenico takes his teenage bride to his home Vasari Castle, where he insists she wear sensual perfumes and elaborate silk gowns. He beats her when he perceives she disobeys him, and is even more physically abusive when he has an urge to show her who's in charge. Margharita refuses to bend to his demands when it comes to attending church services. When he batters her, even when she is pregnant, she turns to the Blessed Mother and Saint Mary Magdalene for help. Her prayers are not for herself; instead thy are to protect her unborn child, the starving impoverished people nearby, and to guide her on how to help those in need. Heeding the Virgin Mother, Margharita kicks off her shoes and begins providing sustenance to the less fortunate, though that means more beatings, but she knows she is blessed because Jesus is with her.

This biographical fiction provides a deep look at a courageous heroine who earned her sainthood, St. Margaret, Patroness of the Abused; perhaps Mother Teresa is the nearest modern day figure to this fourteenth century champion of the oppressed. Catherine Monroe provides a powerful inspirational look at an individual who walked the talk in spite of spousal abuse.