A novel about St. Francis told through the narrator Ricca, a young woman who was in love with Francis. Though Francis did not respond to her romantic feelings she followed him to Egypt when he was with the 5th Crusade. This book dragged in places and while some say it was Scott O'Dell's best work I didn't compare it favorable to Island of Blue Dolphins.

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. Oh Poor Ricca. Oh poor little rich girl Ricca. And I mean that sincerely. Poor girl, she’s in love with a living saint – and those types of stories never end well. Someone who has heard The Call is not going to notice if someone is in love with them.

We follow the story of Saint Francis of Assisi from the outsider perspective of a young noblewoman (girl, really) whose had everything she’s ever wanted handed to her on a silver plate and is more perplexed than anything else that she has finally found something she can’t have.

She moons around after Francis, not really getting it that he has decided to reject all things material, convinced she can get him to fall in love with her if she writes him a sappy enough love letter.

She’s also jealous of Francis’s partner-in-spiritual-rebellion, Clare, convinced all their talk about God’s love is a much more earthy love.

So Ricca lounges around the family villa, copying the more erotic parts of Song of Solomon to send to Francis, pouts that he doesn’t love her yet, and ignores everyone’s advice to grow up, ‘cause all those silly adults have never felt the feelings she is feeling!

Ah the teenager years. Wouldn’t repeat that experience if you paid me a million bucks.

And then the fifth crusade breaks out and it all kind of dissolves into 13th century fanfiction as Ricca makes her way to the Holy Land without being killed or raped, saves Saint Francis from execution, makes friends with all sides, and in general acts like an all around Mary Sue. Urgh.

eponymous-ey sentence:
p140: "To Damietta."

ocr:
p14: I had seen the miracle of Saint Viotorinus four times before, since I was nine years old, so I kept looking for Francis all during the play, which was no different from the other times.

p15: As I watched Francis Bernardone flashing around, the wind whipping his cloak, revealing stripes of green and yellow, as I sulkily counted the says and weeks, realizing that another year would pass, another June would come, before 1 could dance in Piazza San Rufino, I was shocked to see him dancing in the same small circle with my closest frient, Clare di Scifi.

p33: 1 asked Raul about it.

p58: This was the first time 1 had encountered Luzzaro since the day I disrobed in Santa Maria Maggiore Square.

p67: "He came here asking for stones," 1 said.

p78: Hurriedly I wrote a new letter, shorter than the bishop's, copying the Granadian Gothic as best I Could.

p79: The passage on the next landing was deserted, but as I approached the door to the bishop's stud}' I heard voices at the end of the passage, men quietly discussing church affairs.

p92: "...1 am nearly drowned also."

p155: 1 searched everywhere in the tent, taking my time. He was not in sight, but at the head of the table I was serving 1 caught a glimpse of a man whose face was familiar.

p172: "...How doe$ this come about?"

p186: And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the bead of John the Baptist.

p203: 1 didn't need to see it.

redundant:
p16: For weeks for weeks, I closed my mind to every thought of Francis Bernardone.

punctuation marks:
p20: " Yes,' I told him."

p37: I heard Clares beseeching voice as her cloak covered my nakedness.

p41: Sister Carlota, Mothers cousin who lived in a monastery in the town of Perugia, died of dire pains in her chest, and the family rode down the mountain to her funeral.

p80: My father and Bishop Pelagius stood at the bottom of the stairs, Father's hand placed deferentially upon the bishops arm.

p93: Hours ago Clares mother had received my note informing the family where Clare could be found.

p156: Cardinal Pelagius, Pope Innocents legate, was now a captain, the high commander ot the Fifth Crusade, giving orders to an army of thirty thousand men and women.

p166: The gates we passed, five of the twentytwo, were closed and no guards stood beside them.

p182: "We can't challenge him, not openly, of" course...."

grammar:
p168: Good manners suggested that I curtsy, as one would before any dignitary, but Francis approached within a few feet of the sultan, until he was stayed by guards, and stood staring at him, somewhat as if the man were Satan himself.

p187: I covered myelf and fled, though Francis called me back and sent Brother Illuminato trailing my footsteps, pleading in his singsong voice, reminding me how the Syrian woman had repented of her sin and been forgiven.

Wasn't into it, sorry.

good historical fiction! fantastic, actually. I learned a lot, just because I don't know my world history so well. but it was a very enjoyable read!

My daughter and I enjoyed reading this together. It offers an utterly contrarian portrait of Francis of Assisi, narrated by Ricca di Montanaro, a young woman of Assisi. Ricca carries the torch for Francis Bernardone from before his religious conversion. She nurses her unrequited love and continues to pursue him through many challenges, perhaps saving his life in Egypt during the fifth crusade where he walks through enemy lines to propose peace to the Muslim commander. The story is well told, and borderline-racy for young readers.

Beautiful. Every girl should read it. It talks about this italian girls life, the boy she loves, her adventure to an entire different country just for her love.

Okay where do I start... alright with our main character it's safe to say i did not like her. She was foolish and irresponsible chasing after Francis. I felt bad for him because she was chasing after him. There were times where i enjoyed it and times were I didn't it did show how the new Crusade affected Italy and how Francis of Assis got his start and how his life transpired.

This book is one of the great book I admired for long! I was about 11 in grade 5 when I read this book! I was in an age when I started getting interested in books and read them all day long (actually night long). And I found this book in my school's library and was fascinated by the book cover (which is different from this cover shown in good reads) and I read the summary and my favorite saint, Saint Clare was mentioned! But it was labelled grade 10 on the first page of the book, so I tried asking the librarian and she surprisingly said yes!

So this book is the retold version of the story of the famous saint, Saint Francis of Assisi from the perspective of a girl named Ricca di Montanaro who fell high over heels with him. Francis of Assasi was a saint who abandoned his luxury life in order to become a preacher. From the start of the change to till his death, Ricca kept keeping hopes to be loved by him (which seems totally stupid and ridiculous, 'duh he's now a saint not the rich guy you knew before' was what I really wanted to get into the book and tell her). She even did an Indian naked dance to impress him which failed, of course! Other than that, I love this book! There were moments I cried, laugh and or do both of them at the same time! And my Saint Clare was also given praises from this book; like she is mentioned to be the most beautiful girl in the town! (Which is kinda opposite with me lol)

Review in English | Reseña en Español

I must have reread this book easily four or five times during my teenage years, and I remember I loved it... the setting, the description of Medieval Italy, the undying love of a young girl, and the change of a mundane man to a saint... Saint Francis of Assisi himself, no less. I recall that I loved going back to this book especially during winter while listening to Italian singers and just being transported to the European countryside while getting lost in a hopeless love story but which seemed so passionate to me.

However, this rereading experience has left me a bitter sweet feeling –I thought I would love the story again but was surprised because first, I had forgotten SO MANY DETAILS and things that I felt I was reading it for the first time. Sure, the premise was on my mind –the story of Ricca di Montaro, a 13 year old girl who is in love with Francis Bernardone, a rich young man who will eventually become Saint Francis and who is also best friend with Claire de Scifi, who will also become a saint. I remembered Raul de los Santos, Ricca’s tutor, who tried to guide the stubborn girl and taught her beautiful calligraphy. And that was about it… none of the adventures the characters lived in Assisi, Venice, or Damietta where on my mind.

But above all this time I felt… different. I couldn’t really sympathize with Ricca which, 15 years later after I first met her, seems to me a selfish, reckless, stupid girl. Honestly! I hated her arrogance upon seeing a holy man and just been able to thing that her best friend had followed him because she wanted to be her lover! Also, thinking of 13th century Italy I really cannot believe a girl would be able to challenge her family the way she did. She’d probably had been locked up in a convent without any right to leave again had she been so careless at showing her passion for a man. And then… she was just 13! Ok as teenagers we are crazy and all but… once again, thinking of the historical context, I just couldn’t be convinced.

I will always remember fondly Scott O’Dells fiction because of the time when I read his books –I forced my parents to buy me most of the books available by this author and then I binged on them like crazy during my teenage years. I think the memory of my reading experience is something I won’t forget, but I definitely think that I grew past this particular book as obviously I am not the kind of reader who was the target audience.

_______________________

Hace muchos, muchos años, durante mi adolescencia, en mi clase de inglés descubrí a este autor, Scott O’Dell y obligué a mis padres a comprarme todos los libros disponibles, que luego leí y releí desaforadamente durante mis solitarias tardes de aquella época. Ahora que lo pienso, la mayoría de los personajes de O’Dell son muy jóvenes –adolescentes prácticamente.

De este libro en particular, recuerdo haberlo leído unas cuatro o cinco veces y quizá fuera mi preferido de O’Dell: el contexto histórico, la descripción de la Italia Medieval, el amor de una joven por un hombre que eventualmente se convertiría en San Francisco de Asís… todo me fascinaba. Recuerdo que los fines de semana me encerraba en el cuarto con esta novela y ponía de música de fondo cantantes italianos para acompañar el enamoramiento desaforado de Ricca de Montaro, y sufrir cuando eventualmente no quedaba junto a Francisco.

Sin embargo, esta relectura me ha dejado una experiencia un tanto amarga, pues pensé que al releerla, volvería a disfrutarla mucho y la realidad es que –no era como lo recordaba. Para empezar, me sorprende que prácticamente HABÍA OLVIDADO TODO LO QUE PASÓ. Recordaba la trama, el enamoramiento de Ricca, la transformación del joven Bernardone en San Francisco, la amistad
entre Ricca y Clara de Scifi (eventualmente Clara de Asís), al tutor español de la protagonista, Raul de los Santos, los rechazos y la desilusión… pero básicamente eso era todo, cada escena, y cada capítulo en cuanto a la trama me pareció totalmente nuevo –no recordaba nada en particular de los hechos ni en Asís, ni Venecia ni mucho menos cuando van a Damietta para intentar evitar la cruzada…

Pero más allá de no recordar los detalles, esta vez la experiencia fue diferente principalmente porque no pude tener empatía o identificarme con Ricca, la protagonista. Esta vez me preció una chica necia, altanera, INSOPORTABLE. Una cosa es tener un enamoramiento cuando adolescente y otra comportarse con tanta necedad ante lo imposible. Honestamente odié su soberbia, pensando que podría convencer a un hombre santo de tomar placeres mundanos, y el rencor que le guardaba a Clare, pensando que sólo había tomado los hábitos para estar cerca de San Francisco. Además, y a reserva de no ser una experta en la Italia del siglo XIII, me parece que una chica con la personalidad de la protagonista, simplemente no hubiera podido existir –no podría desafiar a sus padres y seguir como si nada, sin consecuencias. Si bien tiene una breve estancia en un convento, lo cierto es que nunca dejó de desafiar a sus padres. Creo que una chica así, de haber existido, hubiera sido enviada a un convento de clausura y listo.

En definitiva, no soy la misma persona que hace 15 años leyó esta historia y probablemente “crecí” más que la protagonista, dejando de ser el lector objetivo de este tipo de libros. Sin embargo, creo que conservaré un buen recuerdo de los libros de Scott O’Dell por lo que en su momento la experiencia de la lectura representó para mí, hace muchos años en los fríos inviernos de Chihuahua.

I think I was eleven or twelve when I read THE ROAD TO DAMIETTA for the first time. I was in the middle of a serious Scott O'Dell binge and had just moved back to the States after living in Italy for a few years. So it had the added attraction of taking place in that country I loved at a time when I was having a fair bit of trouble transitioning back to the American culture and pace of living. I'd already burned through Sarah Bishop, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Serpent Never Sleeps, The Spanish Smile, and Streams to the River River to the Sea by the time I came across a copy of THE ROAD TO DAMIETTA in a narrow, dusty bookstore in West Yellowstone. My copy had thethe old blue cover. I have always liked it. Though the French cover is also quite nice. I have to be honest and say that the current coverkind of scares the crap out of me. Don't think I would ever have picked it up based on that cover alone, which would be a shame as it's really a beautiful book and one of the first young adult historical fiction novels I ever read. O'Dell was great for introducing me to so many time periods I was unfamiliar with as a young teen.

Ricca di Montanaro is thirteen years old and irrevocably in love. The object of her affections is Francis Bernardone--the son of a wealthy merchant and general bad boy about town in Assisi. Though most of the men look down on Francis, most of the women in town follow him with their eyes and stay up at night whispering word of his exploits to one another. Ricca and her best friend Clare di Scifi are no exception. But when Francis publicly renounces his father's fortune in favor of a life of poverty and spirituality, Ricca's hopes are shattered. Over the next several years, Ricca determinedly follows Francis, alarming her parents and family with her single minded pursuit of a man who has left behind all things worldly. When the fifth Crusade marches to Damietta, Ricca joins the march because Francis is there. It is at the fateful walls of Damietta that she sees firsthand the horrifying depths that violence and passion can reach when employed in the name of God. Disillusioned, his health ruined, Francis returns to Assisi and Ricca, as ever, follows him home one last time.

I have always found the history of St. Francis a fascinating topic. This is a fictionalized account told through the eyes of a young woman who decides she will love this young man for the rest of her life. It is an interesting specimen as Ricca herself is not very likable. She has many qualities I admire, including her doggedness and determination to remain true to herself. And she clearly recognizes something in Francis very early on that others do not. At the same time, she can be petty and unbelievably blind to realities, and these flaws persist to the end of the story. Normally, I might dismiss her out of hand. But for some reason her story (and particularly Francis') still resonate with me. I'm not sure if Ricca ever truly understands the man who became a saint. She and he are different kinds of creatures entirely. But in the end she does come to understand herself. And thus she achieves a kind of peace, I think. This is a novel about transformation and unrequited love, of human suffering and divine faith. It is haunting and real, never dipping into a cloying, romanticized take on the historical events it fleshes out. It is probably my favorite of O'Dell's many novels and, when I had the opportunity to travel to Assisi a few years ago, it came back to me with a vengeance as I walked the rose and white cobblestones of that hilltop town and remembered Francis and Ricca.

Outstanding; I'm so glad I ran across this book that I'd never HEARD of before and wouldn't have bought if it weren't for vaguely recalling how hard Island of the Blue Dolphins rocked. I'm not someone who's into reading about saints or the crusades or Italy or any of that; it's just a frank, well-researched story of a girl's infatuation that doesn't resemble any other cliched overtold version of same. Pulls in so many provocative issues (but in a simply-told, objective way) but most of all is just a perfectly told STORY, or story blanketing other stories.

I'm so glad I didn't know anything about this book or expect anything or see any of it coming. Just beautifully done in a well balanced, simply-stated way (but still very sensually told). I really appreciated this one; it read totally differently from anything else I've had my nose in lately.

Especially interesting to read as an alternative YA "romance"/adventure to Twilight, et al. ESPECIALLY considering the criticisms of the religious "agenda" of those books, this is a pretty healthy secular alternative.

I grabbed this book from a used bookstore, seeing the author's name, and didn't actually read what it was about before buying. Months later, when I actually was in the mood to read it, I read the blurb, was surprised and curious, and began to read it.

And wow.

Not sure what I even expected, but I was blown away. The angst, the silliness of youth, the longings of a more mature girl, and the history/time period of Francis of Assisi was brilliantly told in a very realistic way that made you almost long for the characters to end up together, even though...you know...that didn't happen. This book left me wrecked in a way I didn't expect and I'll be thinking about it for some time to come. Definitely one of O'Dell's best stories.