Johanna is just a maidservant living in the house of Dame Margery Kemp, a woman who loudly proclaims her faith and pious nature to any and all. Beside her Johanna is nothing save someone to order around. But her life get's turned upside down when Dame Margery decides she wants to go on a pilgrimage to Rome, and that Johanna must accompany her. Suddenly Johanna is faced with foreign lands, a man with a devil inside him for a traveling companion, and a mistress who might not be as good as she likes to think. Johanna starts to wonder if she will survive this journey, and if she does, how in the world will she ever get home?
Based on The Book of Margrey Kemp,the first autobiographical English text written in the 15th century, Barnhouse takes what was once just the story of a very high and mighty pilgrim and turns it into the story of her maidservant that is often mentioned throughout the journey. Barnhouse gives Johanna life, taking historical fact and filling in the blanks.
I have to say I quite liked this little book. It was interesting, and though it was a novel, it still had quite a bit of reality to the description of the life and times of someone traveling by foot all that way. Johanna as a character was a little bit mousy and timid, but she finds her own in the end and I liked the development of her character.
Barnhouse states in the back of the book that there is no real way to ever know exactly what happened to Johanna, but I think this story is a nice way to give that maidservant more than she probably ever imagined. True this Johanna is a fictional character, but sometime, somewhere a girl like her was traveling over mountains and trying to survive and I find that very interesting.
I recommend this book as a good read for any interested in historical fiction or medieval times.
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