The Midwife’s Apprentice
Once upon a dung-heap, a girl awoke to find herself alone, hungry, cold and homeless. The kids in her medieval village taunt her mercilessly; the adults in town don’t care enough to adopt her. In other words, life for the skinny girl known as Brat was the pits. Soon enough, she befriends a scraggly cat and finds work with the local midwife, named Jane Sharp.
A midwife in medieval society served as the person who delivered babies and concocted herbal compounds to keep people in decent health. Brat, who eventually names herself Alyce, puts in hours working in humble service for the midwife (who actually is quite an unpleasant person.) When Alyce faces a crisis and finds herself unable to successfully carry out her task, she runs away. What happens next is a surprise.
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman won a Newberry Award in 1996, and offers a vivid look into the life of a young nobody who pulls herself out of the gutter to become an important member of her community. It’s definitely worth checking out.
