The Book of the Maidservant

by Rebecca Barnhouse

“A funny and wise book about friendship, loyalty, and love.” —Karen Cushman

Johanna is a servant girl to Dame Margery Kempe, a renowned medieval holy woman. Dame Margery feels the suffering the Virgin Mary felt for her son but cares little for the misery she sees every day. When she announces that Johanna will accompany her on a pilgrimage to Rome, the suffering truly begins. After walking all day, Johanna must fetch water, wash clothes, and cook for the entire party of pilgrims. Then arguing breaks out between Dame Margery and the other travelers, and Johanna is caught in the middle. As the fighting escalates, Dame Margery turns her back on the whole group, including Johanna. Abandoned in a foreign land where she doesn’t even speak the language, the young maidservant must find her own way to Rome.

Inspired by the fifteenth-century text The Book of Margery Kempe, the first autobiography in English, debut novelist Rebecca Barnhouse chronicles Johanna’s painful journey through fear, anger, and physical hardship to ultimate redemption.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Fiction, Medieval, Middle Grade, Audiobook

236 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 2009

About the author

Reading was like breathing to Rebecca when she was growing up. It still is. She loved the Little House books, and fought with her brother over books in the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series. Later, she discovered science fiction and fantasy, from The Lord of the Rings to Arthur C. Clarke to Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea series, and many, many other books she and her best friend shared. They still do.

Rebecca first encountered The Book of Margery Kempe during graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and medieval literature written in Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and other fascinating languages.

A native of Vero Beach, Florida, she now lives in Ohio, where she teaches and writes about medieval topics and about children’s literature set in the Middle Ages.

Reviews

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly teen oriented, it is a quite static story, but nevertheless interesting. The characters are portrayed incredibly real and I really really liked the snide humor.
This book makes you realize how hard was the life of servants, especially in the medieval times, and how little they were considered..

The devil, I think, wakes up when my mistress does.

My mistress feels such compassion for Our Lord, she cries and cries at the thought of him on his rood. You’d think she could spare some compassion for me.

My mistress is visiting everyone who has bad feelings toward her. This takes a lot of visiting.

By the time we get to Yarmouth, I’ve broken my vow over five times. After five, I stopped counting.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this one. If anything the carrying water task of this human time period is under-developed. Women like Johanna spent a good half of their waking lives toting water.

Found out about this one from my grand-daughters who loved it too. Catholic young women in Roman Catholic High School do see the parallels. Especially if your "holy' woman of authority tends to protest too much.

This is alive. It's not revisionist. It's from the real life of an observer who does not have technical entertainment or much entertainment at all. Who cherishes the heartfelt pebble and the minute of solitude when grabbed.

But it's also about change and perceptions of "different" too.

Using the unnamed servant from Dame Kempe was both brilliant and ingenuous. Ingenuous in the subtle nuance and emotions of that servant, a most diligently used and constantly lifting or fetching afterthought that breaths. Most women did not become literate FIRST because they were never able to sit down long enough with an undisturbed window needed to approach the possibility of holding a writing implement. Not even in early girlhood- they were moving, lifting, fetching, carrying, digging.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really fun little book. Even though I wrote about Margery Kempe and she was one of the more colorful medieval holy women (I actually think she had post partum depression and ran with the visionary thing instead as an excuse to kick her husband out of bed and not have any more babies, but that's just me) I always thought she would be a real shit to have to be around very much. It was nice to see not only a historical fiction about her, but one told from the POV of her maidservant. I would not wish that position on anyone.

I enjoyed the perspective of Johanna, the sad little maid who is saddled with Margery. Her little snide thoughts are identical to ones I had when reading The Book of Margery Kempe. She was plucky and strong, even though she didn't think she was. I appreciate strong female characters.

I think this might have been written for young people, as it was a fairly simplistic writing style and quite tame. Far more so than I think more adult narratives would be when dealing with the ordeal of Margery Kempe's personality.

[Sana Abdulla · Rating 5 out of 5]

In olden times people went on assorted pilgrimages to Italy or Palestine or other destinations the hard way, walking and carrying their belongings, and sometimes they would have servants who were expected to take the road and fetch and carry and cook and wash thus making double the excruciating effort with little regard from their employers.
Johanna is Dame Marjory Kempe's maid. She undertakes the journey with her and a motley crew of people ranging from snooty to downright dangerous.Johanna herself, a fairly good Christian is telling her hard tale with wit and exemplary endurance, questioning the duplicity of those better than her on the trail.
Well written and has the right amount of details, a short read with a nice ending.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johanna is a servant to Dame Margery Kempe in the Norfolk town of Lynn. When Kempe decides to set off on a pilgrimage to Rome, she takes Johanna with her. Kempe is, obviously, famous for her piety and the memoirs she wrote (well, dictated to a monk) in the medieval era. This is a fictionalised account aimed at younger readers telling the story from the maid's point of view. Barnhouse has an easy writing style that's thoroughly engaging and the journey of the pilgrims comes to life through her words. Kempe comes off pretty badly though so it makes me want to read the source material now.

[TheBookSmugglers · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the 1400s, Dame Margery Kempe left England on a pilgrimage to Rome. Her account of that and other pilgrimages as well as her conversations with God (Dame Margery was considered a Holy Woman) was published as The Book of Margert Kempe and is considered to be the first official autobiography in the English language. In Rebecca Barnhouse’s note at the end of The Book of the Maidservant she notes that Dame Margery’s account mentions the maidservant who accompanied her and who is constantly maligned and criticised for being lazy in her narrative. Barnhouse became fascinated by the figure of the maid and decided to write this pilgrimage from her perspective.

Johanna is the 14 year old maidservant to the great Dame Margery Kempe, a holy woman known for her connection to God, a connection expressed mostly by wailing, weeping as well as criticising others. Johanna had only been working for her for a while (ever since her father lost his land and her sister got married. There is no room in their lives for a young maid anymore) when she was told she was to accompany her mistress on this pilgrimage to Rome. For Johanna this not only means leaving everything she knows behind but also effectively becoming a servant to everybody else in the group and as such she carries water, she cooks dinner, cleans pots and clothes, sows, gets the fire started and so on and so forth. There is no rest for Johanna at all. She narrates her own story – and what a story it turns out to be, especially when her mistress simply leaves her behind in the middle of nowhere.

"My mistress says you mustn’t stare into the fire lest the devil look out at you from the flames. “He’ll see into your soul,” she says.
My mistress says a great many things about the devil.
But before cockcrow, when my mistress is still abed and I’m sitting on my heels coaxing the embers into life with my breath, I stare into the fire with no fear of the devil. The devil, I think, wakes up when my mistress does."

Johanna’s narrative is what makes this book such a delightful experience. Johanna’s perspective is keen, observant, funny and probably more just than those who proclaim themselves holy. Johanna is dragged around without much say and she is exploited without consideration. She is expected to cook without knowing how (probably the funniest moments in the book are when she is trying to skin and cook their food. It didn’t turn out well). When everybody is resting after a long day of walking, Johanna is still expected to be up and doing things for everybody. The same thing is not expected from a male servant accompanying another member of the pilgrimage:

"Nobody besides Dame Isabel and her husband orders Bartilmew around, but everybody feels free to tell me what to do. And Petrus feels free to show me his fists any time he wants."

Having said that, despite Johanna’s keen observations her perspective doesn’t come with a modern coating and Johanna is and remains a character of her own time. This means that her perspective is intrinsically religious and based on the mores of the time. She might think these things but she would never voice them or expect anything different.

The Book of the Maidservant proved to be an interesting read for many reasons – not only because of the story itself and Johanna but also because I found myself thinking about agency a lot. For all intents and purposes, Johanna mostly reacts to events as things happen to her. She unwillingly becomes a maidservant; she unwillingly leaves for Rome; she unwillingly works like a slave for everybody; she is left behind and continues to work for everybody. It never really occurs to her that she might have a choice or to do something different. But here is the thing: what are her choices? Especially after her mistress leaves her behind – she is a maidservant in foreign soil, who doesn’t speak the local language and who has no money or possessions. She must solely rely on kindness of strangers for survival but to be fair, not without some measure of acting and smarts on her part. So here is what got me thinking: could Johanna’s thoughts be considered a form of agency? I believe so, Johanna’s voice is full of righteous indignation and the more the story progresses the more that silent, voiceless indignation transforms itself in a form of agency. Although her thoughts certainly don’t make her especially nice, she was still endearing to me because of that. She never, ever makes herself to be a martyr and she knows exactly the worth of her work, even if she can’t do much about it until very, very late in the story. And when an opportunity arises to make a choice, she takes it.

I don’t think this is a book for everybody – the story is kind of stark and for a book that follows such a long pilgrimage it is also very short, not to mention that the subject matter itself is likely to attract only those interested in Historical fiction – but it was definitely a book for me. I loved it.

[The Rusty Key · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Jordan B. Nielsen

Recommended for: A boy or girl, aged ten and up, who you’d really like to punish.

One Word Summary: Dry.


Is there a child in your life who loves unspecific Medieval history, Christian epics, and finds the woes of the serving class fascinating? What child doesn’t long for the hardscrabble romance of the fifteenth century, with its desperate and poignant struggles, all the washing of clothes in streams, the abused and battered women, the contents of chamber pots sloshing from windows, and plaque-decayed teeth?

Are those crickets I hear?

I’m rather at a loss in reviewing the Book of the Maidservant, because commenting on the strength of the writing, and the subtle humor of the rendering of the characters feels like complimenting the paint job on the Titanic: the trim may be nice, but she just ain’t gonna float.

The story, based on real historical figures, concerns Johanna, a dutiful, resourceful servant in the 1400s, who tends to Dame Margery, a zealously devout woman from a prominent religious family. Dame Margery, who has the fabulously absurd habit of lapsing into torrents of weeping every time she thinks about the suffering of Jesus, and is convinced that God speaks to her directly, decides that it’s her duty to walk from her home in Briton to Rome on a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica. As fun as that sounds, of course it wasn’t.

As they go, Johanna and Margery join with a handful of thinly developed travelers who round out the story, but don’t quite manage to give it thrust. And, well, they walk. Bickering ensues when Margery annoys everyone to pieces, sobbing as she prattles on about saints and bible stories while they climb the Alps, and even the faithful Johanna’s nerves are worn thin as she’s forced to become servant to the entire group and receives nothing from Margery in the way of gratitude or support.

In technique, Rebecca Barnhouse is a very skillful writer. The subject matter is ambitious, and Barnhouse is to be commended for a believable depiction of a woman living in this era, undertaking an unfathomably huge and difficult adventure. There’s an austere grace with which she portrays Johanna, and as an adult reader, her character was enough to keep me interested in her journey. The problem with this book, however, is that there is no suspense or drive of plot to pull a young reader through all the not so interesting historical details.

There may be a feeling of triumph in what Johanna overcomes, but a sense of climax is curiously absent from the structure of the story, and the main dynamic of the book, the relationship between Johanna and Margery, is cast aside. Rather than growing as a character, Margery becomes flatter and more stereotypical the closer they get to Rome, and though it may be the point, the two women never come to understand each other or even acknowledge that a real relationship exists between them, which was a disappointment.

I felt unclear as to what it was Johanna really wanted, other than to go home, or just sit down for a minute. The suggestion of a romance is tossed her way, but isn’t developed, and a secret family drama is revealed, but its connection to the plot or what the reader is supposed to take from its revelation is ambiguous.

But as previously stated, none of these points of criticism are relevant, because I’m not sure what child is going to sit through all the wimple pinning. Optimistically, this book will play well to a highly literate demographic of kids for whom the period detail and epic journey will be engaging. If there is such a niche, I hope the two of them have managed to find each other and form some kind of support group.


For more reviews from The Rusty Key, visit us at www.therustykey.com

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listed to this young adult (YA) novel on my Ipod, and I continue to be amazed at how much YA fiction impresses me. In some ways, good YA fiction seems more poignant than many “adult” novels I have read lately. Perhaps it’s how children and teenagers see the world so differently than adults, and thus it brings the world into sharper focus, tragedies and joys alike.

One of the fascinating things about this novel is that it is based on a true historical figure, Dame Margery Kempe’s maidservant. Dame Margery, a so-called holy woman dictated The Book of Margery Kempe to an unnamed priest, and this book is considered the first autobiography written in English. Barnhouse got the idea for The Book of the Maidservant from the mention of Dame Margery’s maidservant in her autobiography.

In The Book of Margery Kempe Dame Margery tells the story of her pilgrimage to Rome and often accused the maidservant who accompanied her of laziness, stupidity, and disobedience. When the travelers arrived in Constance, the rest of the pilgrims would not allow the maidservant to accompany Dame Margery, and she blames the maidservant for abandoning her. In her author’s note, Barnhouse states that these comments about the maidservant struck her and were her inspiration to write the story from the maidservant’s point of view.

I think this would be a great book to read with a daughter or a girls’ bible study. While Dame Margery’s abuse of Johanna the maidservant is at times heartbreaking, Johanna is also not perfect and does grow up throughout the novel. I also thought Barnhouse did a good job of depicting what life would have been like for a young serving girl in the middle ages, especially how prevalent Catholic beliefs about saints, ritual prayer, and religious services were in everyday people’s lives. I also recommend for adults interested in this time period; it’s a short easy read which will engage you and touch your heart.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

First line: "My mistress says you shouldn't stare into the fire lest the devil look out at you from the flames."

Between Connie Willis' Doomsday Book, Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders, The Mistress of the Art of Death series, and this book, I am fast developing a passion for historical fiction set in the middle ages. It is such a different time with such a different way of living that it requires quite a bit of world building similar to much fantasy. Many of these books also explore a world that lacks freedoms for most of the population, which makes me cheer for the civil rights and feminist movements that much of modern society has experienced. Many books set in the Middle Ages that I have read often have female characters who are rather feisty and whose world view is perhaps anachronistic. However, I found Johanna, the maidservant and narrator for this book, to be realistically meek and submissive. Part of the fun of the book is watching her development into a woman who can think for herself. If her mistress had not forced Johanna to accompany her on a pilgrimage, it is most likely that Johanna would have never experienced the level of personal growth. But, her experiences in the wide world with educated people helped her naturally inquisitive mind to take on a sprit of its own. The slow romance that developed between her and John Mouse was quite realistic and satisfying in many ways as well. The narrator of the audiobook was fabulous at bringing Johanna and her world to life. Both the author and the narrator will have you cheering for the little maidservant in the end.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful adventure! This will be right at the top of my booktalk list this school year. Full of twists and turns and excitement. I like the way Barnhouse approaches the subject of religion in the Middle Ages. And even her minor characters have so much life in them, you can imagine intriguing backstories for them all.

[Yllus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rebecca Barnhouse's "The Book of the Maidservant" follows Johanna, a young maidservant, and her mistress on their pilgrimage across medieval Europe. I especially liked the style of writing Barnhouse uses. The story is told in Johanna's point of view (First person). One wouldn't expect to have a story told from the view of a maidservant. We learn how Johanna is treated unequally and what her opinions are. We feel like her thought outlet where she can safely leave thoughts she can’t share. We get to know some of the characters, but the book would have been more enjoyable if we had more information on the other pilgrims. The book is very historically correct. From the clothing each person wears to the meals the pilgrims eat. The research I did on this novel proved that there are no flaws in the historical accuracy of the text. When reading "The Book of the Maidservant" it is clear Rebecca Barnhouse did her research.

[Treasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johanna, a servant for Dame Margery Kempe, learns one day that her mistress is going on a pilgrimage to Rome and that Johanna will be accompanying her. Johanna has not been a servant for very long and is therefore not very skilled in the tasks of cooking and mending. Despite this, once on the pilgrimage, she discovers that she is expected to act as the maidservant for all the pilgrims. The pilgrimage is full of hardship and quarreling, especially when the other pilgrims turn against Dame Margery, whose extreme piety annoys them. But there is also good to be found on the pilgrimage, including two of Johanna's fellow travelers and kind people she meets along the way. When the group of pilgrims separates, Johanna is suddenly on her own and must find her own way to Rome. How will she ever get home now? Or maybe she will discover that "home" does not mean what she always thought it did.


One of the things I appreciated about this book was that Barnhouse did not villainize Dame Margary's religious fervor. Dame Margery was a real person who lived in the Middle Ages, and (according to Barnhouse's epilogue) scholars often argue about whether she really was holy or if she was a fake, which is the same thing the characters in the book do. I love that Barnhouse's picture of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages is not judgmental - she simply presents the facts and draws a picture of the time period. It is also very cool that Johanna is based on a real person - Margery Kempe mentions her maidservant in her book, although her name and history are here invented by Barnhouse. And I like how Barnhouse includes a brief explanation of all this at the end of the book. I also really liked the way she brought the Middle Ages to life. It is hard to imagine being in Johanna's predicament - left alone partway to Rome with no money and no idea of how to get anywhere. She really is completely on her own, and never getting home is a very real possibility. I thought Barnhouse did a wonderful job conveying this reality to the reader.

Here I had originally written a paragraph about how I thought the book was more appropriate for young adults than children since the library where I got it had it in the children's section. But I see that it is actually considered a young adult book... so apparently that library just did its own thing. It is definitely for young adults or maybe a middle-schooler who is a good reader and really into historical fiction.

My only real complaint is that I did not understand Johanna's obsession with John Mouse, a young man who is traveling with the pilgrims. The only things he has to recommend him, as far as I could tell, were that he is handsome and lively (i.e. sings bawdy songs in Latin with his friend), and speaks with Johanna as an equal. But, as for that last, they really don't talk very much. And yet she is completely enamored of him. Meanwhile, Bartilmew (the only other servant on the trip) is probably the kindest person she will ever meet and takes such great care of her... why does she obsess over John Mouse (who disappears a few times during the journey) when there's this wonderful guy right there? It really bothered me.

Overall, it is a really good book and definitely brings the Middle Ages to life.

[Jillian (Peapod Historical Bookery) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review originally posted on my blog, PidginPea's Book Nook.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Book of the Maidservant, but the wonderful writing and the swiftly moving plot sucked me in from the very beginning and didn't let me go. The action builds rapidly as Johanna finds herself facing one adventure after another, meeting wonderful friends and terrible enemies along the way.

I'm not very familiar with medieval history, but Barnhouse definitely brought the time period alive. You can see and hear and smell everything right along with Johanna, both the good and the bad. As Johanna travels with the pilgrims, you get to experience medieval Europe through the eyes of a young girl, who must serve the party but still tries to preserve her own independence as much as she can.

Johanna struggles with her faith throughout the book in very realistic and age-appropriate ways. In a world and time where being a good and devout Christian is of great importance, she tries hard to keep her thoughts and actions kind, despite the many injustices being done to her. As she gets into increasingly difficult situations, she starts to feel like God and the saints have abandoned her. As she deals with all of this, the book never feels preachy. It simply allows you in to Johanna's thoughts as she tries to figure things out on her own.

The Book of the Maidservant was one of the best books I've read in a while. It's a wonderful work of middle grade historical fiction: realistic and educational while remaining very interesting and relatable.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those of you who took Ancient and Medieval may dimly recall a certain Dame Margery Kempe, a thirteenth-century English holy woman. She made a pilgramage to Rome, and is the... dictator, I suppose, of the first known English-language autobiography, The Book of Margery Kempe. Rebecca Barnhouse read this book and noted the existence of an unnamed maidservant, who disappeared around Constance, and reappears in Rome. Kempe accused the girl of being lazy, disobedient, and stupid. Barnhouse thought this sounded fishy, and The Book of the Maidservant was written.

I did quite like it. The history seems good-- I can't be certain as it's not my area of expertise-- but I didn't see anything glaringly stupid. Johanna, the eponymous maidservant, is a clever and engaging narrator, who grows and changes over the course of the book. Kempe does not come off very well in this book, but then, it's unlikely that she would; the life of a medieval servant was not good, and serving holy people was probably even harder, especially as holier-than-thou as Kempe is portrayed here.

I felt that the suggested romance was... strange, to say the least, especially since it didn't resolve at all but sort of chopped off in the middle. Still, I loved Johanna's search for her own place, and the eventual comfort and happiness she finds at the end of the book. Well done.

[Alissa Tsaparikos · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

http://findmeintheink.blogspot.com/20...

[Miri Gifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was lovely, and became even more so when I read the author's note at the end. It's based on The Book of Margery Kempe, the first autobiography in English, which details Kempe's religious pilgrimages. When she read that book, Rebecca Barnhouse paid attention to how Kempe described her maidservant and thought it sounded a little fishy. This is the part I love—that Barnhouse was able to see through Kempe's own words and imagine what Kempe was like from the maid's perspective. Johanna is a likable narrator and her story is at times so painful and frustrating that I just kept wishing, over and over, that the next sentence would have her hauling back and punching certain characters right in the face.

For me, the description of life in the fifteenth century was wonderful and so fascinating to read. And unlike many other YA books I've read, this one is very well-written; I loved the style, and didn't have to keep reminding myself, "it's written for kids, it's written for kids" (*cough*Rick Riordan*cough*). I loved the chance to see what the life of a young girl in Europe in the 1400s was like.

[Abby Welker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, based on a true story, was a quick, clean, entertaining read and I really enjoyed it. I found myself getting choked up many times with sadness for Johanna, the maidservant, for what she most likely endured and for the cruel environment she was in. The author paints a picture of what it would most likely be like for a young servant girl during the 1500's and cruel doesn't come close to describe how horrible it would have been for young girls and boys sold into servitude.

Something I enjoyed about the story was Johanna's own spiritual awakening as she traveled in a pilgrimage with her 'holy lady' mistress to Rome. She learns a lot about herself, becomes stronger, and realizes why she's so angry and comes to terms with her situation, all the while remaining very humble and hard working.

I was glad to find this book - it's so very touching in a simple way. You can't read this book and not walk away feeling thankful for the ease of life we enjoy today.

[Chantelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. I read it to help out our middle school librarian so I could recommend/not recommend.

Too dry, the kids won't like it. Good story, about a servant who has to follow her mistress on a pilgrimage to Rome, but it didn't hold my interest.

Want a book about a kid who travels through medieval Europe? Pick up
instead. Female heroine? . Or even .

Much better reads.

[Lauren Gulisane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was completely drawn into this book by the cover art! Isn't it so pretty?! It just had to be read.

Dame Margery Kempe left England in the 1400s on a pilgrimage to Rome. Her accounts of her pilgrimages were published as The Book of Margert Kempe, the first official autobiography written in English. In her writings, Dame Margery mentions the maidservant who accompanied her. Rebecca Barnhouse decided to flesh out this maidservant to create an account of Dame Margery's pilgrimage in the eyes of her maidservant whom Barnhouse named Johanna.

Johanna is the teenage maidservant to Dame Margery Kempe, a holy woman who shows her connection with God through constantly persistent bouts of weeping and being hypercritical of everyone around her. After serving Dame Margery for a short time, Johanna is told that she will accompany her mistress on a pilgrimage to Rome. This means Johanna must leave behind the life she has always known and become a servant not only to her mistress but the rest of the members of this pilgrimage. While the pilgrimage is spiritually enlightening for Dame Margery, Johanna only knows no rest and a lot of work.

This book is told from Johanna's perspective, and it's quite the tale! I'm not one for historical fiction, but this was a fun read. Johanna is funny, persistent, and resourceful. Her story really starts to take way and Johanna really comes into her own as a young lady when Dame Margery decides to abandon her without notice. This book is kind of static, so it's not for everyone. While Johanna's story is interesting, she is very much a girl of her time: unable to speak for herself and largely a victim of circumstance. There is no modern twist lent to this book.

My favorite character from this book by far was John Mouse, a scholar who has joined in on the pilgrimage. He speaks to Johanna like an equal and protects her when he's around. For whatever reason, I found him very endearing and found myself waiting for each moment that he would show up in Johanna's account.

Overall, this book as a fun read. I enjoyed it for its simplicity and the newness it brought to my usual reading trend.

[Norain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Book of Margery Kempe was probably the first autobiographical work in the English language. It was a record of the pilgrimage of Christian mystic, as dictated to a friar four years after the fact (since Margery herself was illiterate). In it there were mentions of a maidservant and the writer of this book, opining that it must have been hard serving a woman like Margery, decided to write a story from the point of view of the maidservant.

It is an interesting take, and even more interesting how fiction is able to make you sympathise with someone, although that someone is a made-up character. The Book of Maidservant made me sympathise so much with the serving maid that I don't feel like peeking into the original work, Margery's own autobiography (I probably wouldn't have anyway, considering the book is a religious work and about Margery's relationship with God and saints, instead of anything relating to the time she lived in and the places she visited). Margery is shown to be a selfish mistress, who obviously never thanked her maid for her work, and also utterly annoying, with her constant religious preaching and wailing. And in the party with whom they travel there are companions who range from utterly detestable to approaching likable. But apart from Johanna, I don't think think I really connect or appreciate any of the characters in the party.

This is a YA-Middle Grade book, thus if there is violence, the detail is sparse. I'm not a fan of a book about road trip but the length of this book is manageable, and the events that dot the journey makes the book eventful rather than a long sparse of nothing filled with purple proses. The array of characters is varied and the conclusion is apt for a book about someone on a journey (Major SPOILER: Don't readThe fates of some characters are left as open-ended because it's realistic that Johanna wouldn't have known what happened to them. Her reunion with John with whom she had a crush could be since as a tad coincidental, but there was logic behind it and it wasn't so contrived that it felt forced. All in all, I like the ending).

3.5 stars.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margery Kempe's memoir has become a standard syllabus inclusion for feminist literature courses. Well-off but not noble, Margery bore 14 children before claiming to have had a vision of Christ telling her to become abstinent. She got her husband to comply by paying off his debts. As her visions increased, so did her hysterical crying when she experienced them. Some claim this was a ploy for public attention, but others believe that she was a true visionary. Although she was illiterate, she dictated her quite fascinating memoir The Book of Margery Kempe, to a scribe.

The Book of the Maidservant is just that: the story of the maid who accompanied Kempe on her pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Kempe had been warned that her maid would cause her trouble, and perhaps, from her point of view, she did. But according to Barnhouse's novel, the maidservant (here named Joanna) suffered considerable trials of her own along the way, including harsh treatment by Kempe, continuing harassment from a would-be rapist, being taken advantage of other pilgrims who loaded her with more and more work, and getting lost and separated from her mistress in Rome. Kempe does not come off well here: Barnhouse obviously adheres to the opinion that Margery was an ambitious, indulged woman who broke the rules of medieval English society and used religion as a way to exalt her status and to get her own way. Nevertheless, her novel is an engaging look into the customs and class structure of the times, and Joanna is a very likable, if somewhat hapless, character. She creates a solid picture of what these pilgrimages must have been like, especially for those who, like Joanna, had no choice but to make them.

[Mick Treloar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rebecca Barnhouse‘s historical fiction novel The Book of the Maidservant follows the tale of Dame Margery Kempe, a christian mystic from the early fourteen hundreds. The Book of Margery Kempe is believed to be the first autobiography ever published in english, and The Book of the Maidservant retells the story- but from the perspective of Kempe’s maidservant. At Michaelmas, Margery sets out on a pilgrimage to Rome, bringing her maidservant with her. After Kempe leaves her maidservant, Johanna, behind in a foreign place, she must navigate her own way to Rome.

For me, the book felt very dry and dragged out. Although I liked how Barnhouse wrote the characters, that was really the only thing I enjoyed. The plot was uninspired and hackneyed, and I felt like I had seen the plot many times before in different works. I didn’t like the author’s writing style, either. She wasn’t descriptive about anything, and the book just seemed very simple and plain to me. There wasn’t any action or adventure, and the entire story felt like it could have been half as long and still gotten the point across. It was historically accurate to a point, but Barnhouse wrote Rome as the pilgrimage’s destination, when in reality, it was Jerusalem. Although I can understand how others might like the novel, it just wasn’t for me.

[Beth Bauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this was very interesting. I enjoyed it, overall.

So, this is a historical fiction based on a real account we have of a Medieval woman's travels (Margery Kemp, her name was). I, personally, read Margery Kemp's account a little differently than Rebecca Barnhosue did, but that is the fun thing about historical accounts: they can be open for interpretation. I personally, thought that Margery Kemp was legitimate, if a little misguided, but this book paints her as rather cold-hearted and unkind. There isn't anything wrong with that: both interpretations of the historical figure have lots of evidence in the documents we have today, so yeah, that just took a little adjustment. And I appreciated in the afterwards, Rebecca Barnhouse explained (using evidence from the documents), WHY she wrote the character of Margery Kemp the way she did, and I think it is a very insightful interpretation. Anyway, the rest of the story was great. :)

- The writing is phenomenal, and Rebecca Barnhouse is an AMAZING historical fiction author. Seriously, the way she describes things: giving full and vivid images without being overwhelming - fantastic.
- The character, not incredibly impressive but very interesting and relatable, and you feel a lot of sympathy for her.

[Gail DiVico · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this book. If I actually read the book, I'm sure I would have given it five stars. There were six discs in the audio version. The first two I found hard to stay with, but I did - which I'm glad about. The author did an amazing job of recreating the story out of The Book of Margery Kempe, a holy woman living during the middle ages. She traveled with her maid servant on a pilgrimage to Rome. Along the way, the group experienced many hardships, one of which was the difficult Margery Kempe who was particularly cruel to her maid servant, Johanna (a created character). The story is written from the point of view of Johanna, abandoned by her mistress en route to Rome and left to fend for herself. I found this to be an extremely educational piece about a time in history which I am not too familiar. This audio book is geared to students, probably middle and high school level, but I would recommend to anyone interested in history in general. i understand from the write-up on the back of the audio book that this is the author's debut. Very well done!!!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dame Margery, a woman with strong religious convictions and feelings, decides to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. As her other servants are unsuited to the trip, she takes young Johanna, who has little choice in the matter. This book is told from Johanna’s perspective, but the story is based on the 15th century book by Margery Kempe, the first autobiography in English. Johanna has much toil and trouble to deal with and ends up doing the domestic chores for the group of pilgrims that her mistress travels with, some of whom treat her decently, but most of whom treat her as little more than a slave. Her mistress is volatile and emotional, causing great frustrations for both Johanna and the other pilgrims. After being abandoned, Johanna must find her own way to Rome, in hopes of reuniting with her mistress and finding a way home to England.

[Kim Zarins · Rating 5 out of 5]

A kid's novel ABOUT MARGERY KEMPE!!!! Margery blubbers the entire way to Rome, which makes for some good comedy and satire (Margery is besties with God but is horrible to her maidservant) seen from the viewpoint of this same maidservant, a smart girl I was rooting for on every page. Other characters on the pilgrimage reminded me of Chaucer's tales--for example, there's a January/May couple with them who add to the comedy. Besides the humor, though, there are real risks for a girl on the road and far from those who speak her language, and Johanna's vulnerability and resilience are inspiring. Highly recommended for readers of Karen Cushman. Read this on the plane back from the Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo and couldn't put it down.

[Cjacque · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book a great glimpse into the past and how certain people were treated back then because of their place in society. I love how the author Rebecca took a character of a completely different book on Mistress Kempe pilgrimage and she made an unnamed maidservant out of that book come alive before our very eyes. She made Johanna into a teen that most people could relate to, like the feeling that your the only one in the world. The feeling of abandonment and betrayal by someone you look to for leadership. This book has a swift moving plot that pulls the reader in and makes them not want to put it down. Rebecca did a good job with making Johanna up but, I just wish there was actually written account of what happened to the maidservant during the journey. I guess we will never now.

[michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

As always, read the author's note at the back. Those always add more depth to the historical accuracies and even motivation for the story.

I enjoyed Johanna's tale. It was very much like a snapshot into part of her life. We don't know much about her life before this story begins, and we don't know what happens to her after the story ends (including what happens to some of the individuals she got to know on her journey). This doesn't make the book feel unresolved, instead, it felt very natural because it fits with the medieval time period. (Eg: you get separated from people, you can't just call them or send a letter. All you can do is keep surviving.) Because I enjoyed her story I do want to know what her future holds, but that's up for me to imagine, and I'm okay with that.

[Amy Linton · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the few first-hand accounts of life as a woman in the Middle Ages is the Book of Margery Kempe. In it, Margery went on religious pligrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, and complains, fairly often about her maidservant.

In this novel for young people, author Barnhouse riffs off the famous account with a more accessible slant: that maidservant's own experience as the much put-upon and under appreciated servant to a woman's whose religious fervor occasionally made her a danger to herself and her traveling companions.

Loyalty, friendships, and a vivid portrait of an alien time and place in our past.

[Blue.SAnd]

In the English town of Lynn, Johanna works as Dame Margery Kempe's assistant. Kempe brings Johanna with her when she leaves on a pilgrimage to Rome. This story uses Margery Kempe's tales in her autobiography to tell the story from the maid's perspective. The pilgrims' trip is brought to life in Barnhouse's words through her simple, engaging writing style. I wish the author had gone in deeper on the backstory of some of the characters, such as John or Bartilmew. The author has done her research, and that is seen in the book itself; it is historically accurate for the most part and is engaging to the young mind.