Matlida Bone

Matilda Bone is about an orphan named Matilda who was a lonely and religious girl who finally opened her heart to people. This story was set in the fourteenth century in a small village in England. She was staying at Lord Randall's manor and Father Leufredus taught her reading and writing. Matilda preferred living a proper life and staying in a manor, studying Latin and living the lives of the Saints whom she admired. Her piousness and seriousness can be seen when she told Tildy: "I should not be here laughing....it would be better for me to spend the time in prayer." Although she was taken care by Father Leufredus, it was him who abandoned her in Blood and Bone Alley with the local bonesetter, Red Peg. She was to work for Red Peg in return for food and shelter. Matilda fell into a world that was filled with the scent of healing herbs, bloodletting, broken bones and leeches. Initially she hated her new environment and the people around her. She "would sigh a very big sigh, remembering the days when she was uninvolved in all the matters of the world, of pain and illness, of all the unsuitable friends and useless skills." But when she met Effie the kitchen maid, she was fascinated at the market square where Effie brought her. As she experienced the life of a bonesetter's assistant, she found a new life of friendship and happiness. We could see the change in her by the way she took care of Tildy who was sick. "Day after day Matilda sat with Tildy, held her hand, washed her face with cool water, and forced thin porridge between her lips." At the end of the story, she evolved from an arrogant and ignorant brat to a compassionate and caring girl.