Matilda Bone — Karen Cushman

She treats me like a kitchenmaid, thought Matilda. As if I am fit for nothing but measuring and brewing. Why, I know Latin and French and some Greek, as well as reading and writing and figuring. I can name the three wise men, the seven deadly sins, and a great many of the 133,306,668 devils of Hell. . .

In Blood and Bone Alley, where she has come to serve Red Peg the Bonesetter, Matilda finds she is alone in her belief that prayer and study are the only worthy pursuits. Here she is expected to go to market, tend the fire, mix plasters and poultices, and help treat patients. Surrounded by people who laugh and joke and eat sausages, while she herself seeks higher things, Matilda feels alone and misunderstood. How she yearns for her former life at the manor, where she was instructed by Father Leufredus and her most difficult task was to find her way to the privy in the dark!

With the fascinating and pungent world of medieval medicine as a backdrop, Matilda Bone is the compelling, comic story of a girl learning to live contentedly in this world.