I love, love, love this book. I cried and laughed. It was excellent. I felt sorry for the characters and rooted for them too. I would recommend it to almost anyone. There are a few racy parts (just a warning.) ( )

This was a quick read, but I wouldn't call it "light." Margherita is a peasant girl in 1300s Italy. Her mother and father work the fields and attempt to sell whatever cheese and eggs they produce. They barely make a living. Margherita, 15, is developing sexual curiosity and with it, a beautiful face that attracts many a male eye. Thus, she not only attracts her lover, Antonio, a fellow peasant, but also the eye of a noble man, Dominico. In the blink of an eye, Margherita is "sold" to the wealthy Dominico and uprooted from the only home she has ever known and from the lover of her choice and from her family and thrown into the world of the wealthy, a world this barefoot girl does not know.

Margherita now has it all. Wealth, food, fancy dresses, servants. But she has a large price to pay for it all. She cannot see her family ever again. Her husband abuses her, insults her, and imprisons her. In her despair, Margherita begins to become religious and does not wish to sit there among all the wealth while people outside the gates are starving as she once was. She takes off her fine dresses and risking Dominico's wrath and fists, gives food and comfort to the poor.

When Dominico catches her, it won't be a pleasant experience. Even a baby in her womb will not stop him from hurting her and in the 1300s women had no rights. What shall become of Margherita? Her baby? The poor people depending on her bread?

I enjoyed this novel. I found it thought evoking and hard to put down. I especially liked the fact that a young woman placed in terrible circumstances simply makes the most of it by giving to others. I also liked the fact that the book gets to the point. The author didn't fill it up with each character's past history or descriptions of trees and whatnot. A good read. ( )