Babylonne

By Catherine Jinks

Book Overview

Exotic and exciting, this unflinching coming-of-age tale featuring a headstrong heroine weaves a vivid tapestry of life in the Middle Ages. Early thirteenth-century Languedoc is a place of valor, violence, and persecution. At age sixteen, Babylonne has survived six bloody sieges. She's tough, resourceful, and -- now that her strict aunt and abusive grandmother intend to marry her off to a senile old man -- desperate. Disguised as a boy, Babylonne embarks on an action-packed adventure that amounts to a choice: trust the mysterious Catholic priest -- a sworn enemy to her Cathar faith -- who says he's a friend of her dead father, Pagan. Or pursue a fairy-tale version of her future, one in which she'll fight and likely die in a vicious war with the French. Though Babylonne never knew her irreverent father, fans of Catherine Jinks's novels about Pagan Kidrouk will be sure to see the resemblance in his feisty daughter.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0763636509
• ISBN13: 9780763636500
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

13th century life is challenging, to say the least

Life is challenging in the 13th century, to say the least, what with war, disease and intolerance running rampant throughout Europe. However, 16-year-old Babylonne has an extra few trials to survive, like never having met her father, losing her beloved mother in one of the wars, and now having to live with her strict and abusive aunt and grandmother. And then it gets even worse --- they want to get rid of her by marrying her off to an old man who isn't quite right in the head. Babylonne has had enough, so she decides to run away and join up with the noble knights. She will offer to cook and clean for them, and help them with their grand and gallant quests. For added safety, Babylonne chops off her hair and disguises herself as a young boy. But her future doesn't quite play out as she plans. Almost immediately, she is cornered by a Catholic priest named Isidore who claims to have been a friend of her father's and wants to take her under his wing and protect her. First of all, Babylonne had been conditioned by her aunt and grandmother to believe that all Catholic priests are horrid and untrustworthy. Second, she also had been told that her father had raped her mother, so she is no fan of his either. To say the least, Babylonne has no interest in staying with Isidore. However, after further argument, she decides it could be safer traveling with a priest than by herself, and she can leave him at any time. So the two set out for their destination. During the next few days, Babylonne starts realizing how misinformed she's been, how special her parents' relationship was, and how kind Isidore is. For the first time since she was a baby, she begins to feel the love that a child would get from a parent and looks forward to staying with Isidore, learning to read and write, and being safe. But then they run into the very knights Babylonne had set out to find. They force her to come with them, and she ends up in yet another violent siege, trapped in a castle and assaulted by the French. While witnessing even more horrors and blood, Babylonne swears to return to her new friend, if she can escape with her life. Catherine Jinks has researched the Middle Ages extensively, so she is the perfect escort back to the 13th century, in all its glory and horrors. She has an adventurous and spirited writing style that shines brightly right into her feisty and determined heroine. Jinks writes with such animation and energy that her audience will experience Babylonne's tragic and heartfelt adventures almost as if looking through the teen's own eyes. Readers may be familiar with this author from her numerous other novels, and they won't be disappointed in her newest exciting journey. --- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT and THE BLACK POND

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

BABYLONNE, by Catherine Jinks, is the story of a sixteen-year-old girl in early thirteenth-century Languedoc. It is a time of war, persecution, and religious controversy. Jinks' knowledge of the era as a scholar lends a truth and vividness to the coming-of-age tale of a young, feisty girl in the middle of a war. She is able to paint everything from the sights, sounds, and smells of monasteries to the sights, sounds, and smells of wars and infirmaries inside besieged fortresses. Her writing is not for the weak of heart, or the weak of stomach in some places. Babylonne is a young woman who has spent her life surrounded by bloodshed and abuse and has remained an independent thinker despite it all. She never knew her mother, a Good Christian, and never knew her father, an Arab-born Roman priest. She lives with her aunt and other women in a convent of sorts. As she is considered to be a child with no father, because her father was a Roman priest, she is mistreated and abused in many ways. Finally, when she is going to be married off to a man who is so old that he sees everything as giant bouncing olives, she makes a run for it. While Babylonne runs through her city, stolen goods in tow, she runs into a Roman priest, Isidore, whom she despises at first. Gradually, Isidore teaches her to trust and the differences between her faith and his faith come into question and are open for debate. Her original wish, to fight for the exiled lords against the French, comes into question as she learns what war really means. Babylonne's honest voice is dramatic, humorous, and sometimes heartbreaking. The one thing that I truly wish was different with this book is the cover art. Babylonne is supposed to be as dark as a Moor but the cover shows her as pale, brown-eyed, and red-haired. While the cover is dramatic and beautiful, I wish that it showed the main character as she is written, because everything else is so carefully researched and laid out. Overall, Jinks' writing style is easy to get into and the historical knowledge makes Babylonne's world leap off the page. Reviewed by: Christina Tsichlis