Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

<i>Babylonne</i> (review)

2009; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 62; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/bcc.0.0600

1558-6766

Elizabeth Bush,

Classical Antiquity Studies

Reviewed by: Babylonne Elizabeth Bush Jinks, Catherine. Babylonne. Candlewick, 2008384 p ISBN 978-0-7636-3650-0$18.99 R Gr. 7-12 Pushed to the limit by her grandmother's scorn, her aunt's abuse, and their plans to marry her off to an impotent old man, medieval teenager Babylonne chops off her hair, steal some coins, and heads off to find the exiled knights who are taking a precarious (and ultimately doomed) stand against the French king and the Roman Catholic clergy. She hasn't made it out of the city gates, though, before she's approached by a priest who's been following her for the past couple of days. This priest is none other than Father Isidore, the scribe to Pagan Kidrouk from the final volume of Jinks' Pagan quartet (Pagan's Scribe, BCCB 4/05). Babylonne has every reason to distrust Isidore, since she had been led to believe that Pagan (now deceased) had raped and deserted her mother, and that Roman priests were in on the persecutions that took her mother's life. Isidore is nonetheless determined to take the runaway under his protection and to patiently dissuade her from her fool's errand. Just when days and a multitude of experiences on the road have convinced Babylonne to place her confidence in her companion, she is recognized by the very knights she sought and abruptly dragged off to a castle until they can return her to her family; the fortification then promptly comes under siege, and Babylonne is a stranded witness to and participant in the horrifying bloodbath that ensues. With this title, Jinks continues her compelling Pagan drama but steers it off into another direction with a female protagonist. This is no ordinary damsel-on-the-run novel with a genteel ending, though, but a historically credible examination of the limits on a medieval girl's life and the casual horror into which she is cruelly thrust. Pagan followers will welcome a fresh title, and newcomers can enter the saga in time to catch its second powerful wind. [End Page 203] Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Used by permission of Atheneum Books for Young Readers.