The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry

 In the 12th century in France, Dolssa is the teenage daughter of a devout mother and a wealthy father.  Her father wants her to marry well, but her mother hopes she will join a nunnery and devout herself to God.  Then, one day she has a spiritual experience and is converted to Christ.  She sees him as her "beloved" and begins teaching others of his love. Wind of her teaching reaches the ears of the local inquisitors and she is accused of heresy. Her mother defends her and is executed, but Dolssa miraculously escapes and goes on the run.  She is taken in by three sisters, young women of dubious background who run a tavern and public house. The contrast between the four young women couldn't be greater, but they come to love and care for each other.  The officers of the Inquisition are searching for Dolssa, however, and the sisters need to be ever more creative to try to keep her safe.

I put this book on hold because it was a Printz award winner.  It was very different and I didn't love it. I had a couple of problems with it.  One is that the book is set in France, but the narrators are British and I am pretty sure they were slaughtering all the French words in the book. The second is that the book was so serious the whole time I wasn't sure if it would have a happy ending or not. It certainly wasn't one of my fluffy historical romances.  With a title containing the word, "passion" which, in this context, means "suffering death," I suspected it wouldn't end well for poor Dolssa.  The fact that I was concerned, shows that the writing was very good, and the characters were well drawn and sympathetic. It was also interesting to get of taste of what life was like under the shadow of the Inquisition. At the end of the book is an author's note that explains which parts of the book are based on real events and which are fiction.  Sometimes I am put off when someone calls the middle ages, the Dark Ages, but this book rather confirms that title.  It is amazing the atrocities humanity has committed in the name of Christianity. (512 p. 2017)