The Woman in the Cloak

Born blind and deformed in 13th-century Italy, cast out by her prominent family, Margaret became a legend because of her exceptional sanctity and benevolence. This hagiographic rendering by the author of The Sutburys follows Margaret from her walled-up childhood to her adoption by the charitable, well-born women known as the mantellate because of the cloaks they wear in the tradition of St. Dominic. Margaret's sufferings and abuse are shown transmuted into a spirituality attracting people from all levels of society. Succeeding in the main, Hill's delineation of a historical figure in cruel times nevertheless comes perilously close at times to sentimentality. (Jan.)