Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Poor Banished Children: A Novel
Poor Banished Children: A Novel
Poor Banished Children: A Novel
Ebook301 pages4 hours

Poor Banished Children: A Novel

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

3/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

An explosion is heard off the coast of seventeenth-century England, and a woman washes up on the shore. She is barely alive and does not speak English, but she asks for a priest . . . In Latin.

She has a confession to make and a story to tell, but who is she and from where has she come?

Cast out of her superstitious, Maltese family, Warda turns to begging and stealing until she is fostered by an understanding Catholic priest who teaches her the art of healing. Her willful nature and hard-earned independence make her unfit for marriage, and so the good priest sends Warda to serve an anchorite, in the hope that his protégé will discern a religious vocation.

Such a calling Warda never has the opportunity to hear. Barbary pirates raid her village, capture her and sell her into slavery in Muslim North Africa. In the merciless land of Warda's captivity, her wits, nerve, and self-respect are tested daily, as she struggles to survive without submitting to total and permanent enslavement. As she is slowly worn down by the brutality of her circumstances, she comes to believe that God has abandoned her and falls into despair, hatred, and a pattern of behavior which, ironically, mirrors that of her masters.

Poor Banished Children is the tale of one woman's relentless search for freedom and redemption. The historical novel raises challenging questions about the nature of courage, free will, and ultimately salvation.

- An award-winning European novelist presents a powerful story of mystery, adventure, peril, suffering, faith, and courage
- A thrilling historical novel that explores the life and cultures of 17th century England, Malta and Africa
- A challenging work that tells the story of one woman's relentless search for freedom and redemption amidst great suffering, loneliness and despair

LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 23, 2011
ISBN9781681493794
Poor Banished Children: A Novel
Author

Fiorella De Maria

Fiorella De Maria was born in Italy of Maltese parents. She grew up in Wiltshire, England, and attended Cambridge University, where she received a Bachelor’s in English Literature and a Master’s in Renaissance Literature. She lives in Surrey with her husband and children.  A winner of the National Book Prize of Malta, she has published four other novels with Ignatius Press: Poor Banished Children, Do No Harm, We'll Never Tell Them and the first Father Gabriel mystery, The Sleeping Witness.

Read more from Fiorella De Maria

Related to Poor Banished Children

Related ebooks

Christian Fiction For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Poor Banished Children

Rating: 3.142857142857143 out of 5 stars
3/5

7 ratings2 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Poor Banished Children. Fiorella de Maria. 2011. The second of the 3 books Marinella and Doug lent me is a historical novel about the Barbary pirates and a young woman’s determination to survive with her honor. In seventeenth century England a mysterious young woman is washed ashore. She knows no English and we learn her story in flashbacks as she makes her confession to a priest. After her family deserted her, a priest took her in and educated her in the classics as well as medicine. She was captured by Barbary Pirates, sold to a Moslem man and eventually made her escape with the help of another priest and a pirate. Her story is full of cruelty and kindness as she struggles to gain her freedom. This was an interesting story as I’d never thought much about the horror a woman would be subjected to if she were kidnapped and sold into slavery. Cruelty and violence
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Very intense. Interesting ending. The main character was too guilt-ridden.

Book preview

Poor Banished Children - Fiorella De Maria

ebook_preview_excerpt.htmlu\ےqWp E% zim_U;>#ӗY= 0B6}ɓ_?~w}o//?cM a58]<6cm3O|SsR!u ]jBp6KLscǘ%fzW7fN-u)m~:͛|]n? a.] \%;sc5en M{=3nB \S7G-cĂz]8r ͥcXelmC߄4ϧڦ_,/[?Ni>7o;=Ö2]b O\uZt{)>?4a7hNabq0ka?-1sI  {84ij|$Ws8,Ùki41S.S?%8]<4's <34%e0.ƿoЦ4R 4]>Rʌ qڛ^z5tJ2qtkp7oܴ!=!R`I2؇j2}!q0|PxөǣR;3g+2鄨ƿDw8]% j-w^# h1Չ7ۃ%(i!A# yEy; F<4o>{_% lWntwGs Sk8)[;Ӷ.m7Vmo1?Ӕ̓=}#G/MMLٛtqUoe>@e &Ezoq&fںO.p#0碀v/X*lL ^x޺=ZkdQVs k3)DGz. ֖21q.n7" S#֕aB+%aC8s,hat Veb>r>=rwOoN! ! AaI+xEO%v+̒pm(/xa77=Emk:`.UraxC$X-\mWr$ # .$sGm mG]*HU~oe`SZ˪ߣLo5U{СB5ڒ_! R`98DMrG:yD[hH !W + ù*431] 17;D'wPEUO >L4=sx'c$-{xys4,GvIIeKí>?j)ܔa3KDyEy|5?8AX!4 Vn(@~>_^=v"C/p\#qop."xRQ(F Pb>p`Lp?th1a繶mh뵵P軛{N|#_z<'y|)>$kD;zs%+2HczE 6-ۧ8,@1{@?>Qھ?lPv_ހ),fjohLV`z;Qehs: CH~ ОPt`N)$(S22L$&W"ӕJ3l7 5d v u\a(o5W %3B &[v #"QK6߄f`R ˸EU ޴df>]`_+ y5<hlзRENWG0S[SFGwɝ]R|]dT]^@̲li3|IkNL5[ ]J(֒_%e|'gugXk UELWx'*뱶!!M $%<,qe 7 CGB3)Kt t}yI,-ȉ WlOxIIޯDbs b@KkiE#Rf,mֳɳIdfCeICN! _ Uj:ZKFej`"1wm_~B(WeڡΓD,|ǐ m#Q^9~ƆʧKb)`|^>Two%pQQҏ}Phzv+I.&*aߖ82+a wAL;pf}˕;m;(Us&YtGsH=MJ m9Fs\>_ sU`ީr^'wMLpbww,I9.9_`P!&M暸^; op9ocbcR) \? k?GM:|@~+N{<%ˆsB~]fG3rr(G>r}ſzs1r2fv %$Rjǣ$4@C_5uϷ$O/mИW@Xy/]5on;-'; yቦ$]`sKLr}?DsΎȹ݈Ot  W/zQ|̙c,yrNa8?ko1QB_i}?<~R!;w䌎_qL,r!8ƥ7=3 3 Gm|G?Kсjgh%ʶ*ku^p.(a#ۏZv'\D (6Ւ!'tva8Fm}TӧWÐ]uyrvi瘞\tR@OIYR 7'8Jr.! 2_J~R@|c:2[yQI'OTiǮz-X盹 db bJaøu7\zDn\4{=iJ0Y FrybuF@כS\e,fKq_8H-ZS,0ώӋJ/\ЩJ<9 ->6u_ AYC\E++Weƹ,FR7poY Ј Vm@uVؘVybt⚻Ҩ=RocW0΋) ne-d20%Mwj 1E,"&o]񨣓X'If E*E1̲n:~WQ4ϖ3$*} -zƁb]}ű3M,g#llؕិ}}ؽA1pMݠMj@Rn~mIkRau)ƪDej\1яN fYl߲M $h^8L*W˙Z񱬼]&xϨI$&jx^yGLYMF؈)TiQGȯPq508qV%(U&fd\@b]<ˍӎ(6IN l2Ff  F\`UU;)J0\ &W?B[Xw l!r8 Y REx}7{#>L/m^a<@2ܯo<h2X \,^ܔͱ+f־q743SpXUbS{4<ҋ^5C8W ޡ?݂!ԌWͷ> wJ+kƸ˯#367xax,%m%=Dg[%杬ʳ>@Gs7k2Pu6&-軠`J+ OM^oP`Z<$zc9D,v!J۲GK {s V7a7lYCCgI)BX.w7߼? _PݳzpCm__8qjJr;XWmEd:GjJ,NUz5=R"U 覎R&b}!!n|܁Ki/2z] E'ߚt :6+}JVR^&%kρ5s10j 5ြىg;w@ZiH DN' K2fz>ya_lmR/׹bm#6!ZP"?^ϫfyZE3JS]17}HkW!\'@U\J3g-vg pM0+ FjKp~WTBZULq.jŁ^)}-;ih7J2eU+FIxvͰja;EFJ뙚YwS1( dm -Vo`5ήMΏ?HA*Bc*me 2?5퓚jL79%B#\DqtZ'T~h^^5Ċocui;3{2CsDgfC)–P>ŕiR9p.vnb{s+ SQO[8]=/Tj?فzk2WI*n@aғ&[6:Ln~8؊T0W.]Q's|o[i]JD Mι@y|l xF!)0{|Ke9̊~~-͹jrMnNcLdRx%szX'CoR{N=BS!@@8"2KIqIf!مI]ڶEĦs쁘#ޟ&X C\Ӎ=tTt唠{e)'`\Uq`H(ݚ.9ŧMq\g0GW"j*Fg`i 'aU=::g$I(蔔*]9&0T^+L՞2?^"W<U9Vkl{ȆL?3'vvXtzo dS($OQXu*)g,<'jCǦ p't<x؛$zv #ov*eOz7զG>ᇱ{SC<` ABzxO8k4,u˓t!GFDbi2a/W%{X H32!8+(Ȅ@{[GH͚d$e⏷4Lr ig!Jḁ~;7lZ 홛gtbA E4EuA3CM]maex32"3O 5ўl0 Wx0Ƈ)|(sN:MD/Ez0i:aRg4(~w#IoHo,:x#UlU&doF1g}lW>sMFXknN/ՠE/Zs-]_*| 4AUd/;iرnz'|mL >XuJb:x1ZPHEz] =2"Ę%CA[ٺ ^X֩e.#%V+|!Τq7m c4,Iy8~wډI ޔ=;=ޓP' neϴFwK]AHK(_,\mߚ6͌"1;oYn^]$5l|'ilxU5ZTj^R{F6 30-ae{2ӷdF$#6hA)+W, eh5ޚ =~#?rbM>{̣<;d>3R){vAMxo~I)}KI~5YuX'D;ĤF3ņ]F u&:"P?U/^_;eZ/G;8's%mN̙p1w5%Zq!u`I+EJ.IIBޙAx}nJ7/fXf!Xkr4QZ;=wfiӳ)Ck g[jE-'w[)R(ޗ[>Rc{Ӡ]|o' VjW UIҦizv-3̳I+ƻ,sЦvTreՓs6k *xG&˩Yh{")WWpW%>)8nR%(N1T)4T~|4s>`7M~ާY -Z,yg)Wr]Zݶm4``-d~Nbg\4_u~ZTQl'!Ԣ !]Ql/_0ho0[q`y]?0 k6j&mשѧ ~\ 7ؘ_o>;_)/}?{ö~ N*=1t]\% /<5lwOS[BHՌG:In3d)vY6^-9mEO/g+3 Xh^5iO`э1<~d.-*;,uPrO-&ͰK7wd#+sPr}űA۶-ۯe7s"A|a- {X\J@S6X1atpRd}UFu^< }CNY~ZEnꜢ;  WajZi6|ކjRlI\5[Cy>?5S1CW%Eoh[ዀں~m`;e:J-O ]LOK*ϭyN tOE#NU&~ɿh gϥ|Ge]ԛY[ؿtTD%~hqʾmowBxyL>tσa ! ]5rpjJpzh3pߑohF1u:p5f')}AӋV5:~WJ|hYePDoGmNc-H*})ÌB$ϱ4 m m<(|kP/qNWxW췾MɿA=YȸV㮬W#_9D9]# ʲBƆu#k3=dTw`aB}]e.K]3$c#gAH}:Vz,8[νf2_|y[R?.%j5o8A=bc_ 9!'V?+9޿ꕬ1ߦD91반{+Pkv6 ڧv*/+ED*v |x=Գ}q^!1``-(.iTX\'~O6LwbW*Mv%JTa]/`ZّBժԍ4Dy/$Ӭ H[;somCQBvM/跌6Ew@/w:?9@/iLS%8qD0e4%x{˚Ӽ~n * |ZϧyLڷhZe_twt"k$aYhk$NhSǕ 'Ä͕?l5Y
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1