num_pages: 336
description: This captivating historical answers the question Why did Rapunzel's mother lock her in the tower?After a blighted childhood young Laura finds peace and purpose in the home of a midwife and healer. Later she enrolls in Salerno's famed medical schoolthe first in the world to admit women. Laura and her adoptive mother hope that Laura can build a bridge between women's herbal healing and the new science of medicine developing in thirteenth century Italy.The hardest lessons are those of love; Laura falls hard for a fellow student who abandons her for a wealthy wife. Worse her mother rejects her as impure. Shattered Laura devotes herself to her work becoming a respected medico. But her heart is still bitter and when she sees a chance for revenge she grabs itand takes for her own Bieta the newborn daughter of a woman whose husband regularly raided the physician's garden for bitter herbs to satisfy his pregnant wife's cravings.Determined to protect her adored daughter from the ravages of the world Laura isolates the young woman in a tower. Bieta as determined as her mother escapes and finds adventureand loveon the streets of Salerno.Bieta's betrayal of her mother's love comes at a terrible price as lives are ruined and families are torn apart. Laura's medical knowledge cannot heal her broken heart; only a great act of love can bring everyone forgiveness and peace.
language: English
title: Sold for Endless Rue
publisher: Forge Books