An amazing book that shows the struggle of women and their desire to gain knowledge and understanding which is often and at those times always squashed as if it isn't important. I loved the deep set feel of the book and how it shows what lengths females of the past eras had to endure.Although I think it was a bit weird Otto was staring at Sandro the first time they saw eachother, for someone who thought he was straight he couldn't have just been staring at a guy with those brown eyes ;D I also enjoyed the facts of the human body and the different scholars from different nationalities being recognised as well as the recognition of the idea that past scholars had been wrong but it was their mistakes that brought forward the discoveries.However, the reason for the four stars was the writing and it moved off really slowly and then too much happened all at once towards then end. It got a bit boring sometimes and I gave up twice but I still liked it enough to give it 4 stars; maybe 3.8 This is a very fictional historical fiction novel that grew from the rumour of a female student at the University of Bologna in the 14th century. Alessandra has read every book that passed through her father's scriptorium and wants to be more than a baby maker tied to some old nobleman. So she dresses as a boy and runs away. The story is interesting but has some melodrama. The language is very simplistic. This would be a good novel for someone learning English as a second language or someone that reads below their age level.
That ended much too quickly! Good on you for trying and never giving up, Alessandra!
—kasper
Good but terrible ending!!!!
—heveanlyangel
this is a great book.
—esslashay
