Born the illegitimate daughter of an Italian nobleman, Carola is cast out from the House of the Griffin while still a child and forced to make her way in a world that offers little mercy to the poor, the homeless, or the unwanted. Yet what begins as a story of loss becomes a story of unexpected companionship as she finds a place among a band of strolling players whose lives are as precarious as her own.
Travelling the roads of Italy, Carola encounters poverty and privilege, cruelty and kindness, superstition and faith. Along the way she forms enduring bonds with the wise and enigmatic Petruchio, the gentle strongman Bernard, the spirited Lucia, and the healer Sofia, whose tragic fate teaches her the danger of speaking openly about the mysterious Shining One whose presence has guided her since childhood.
Set in Italy on the threshold of the Renaissance, Life as Carola follows its heroine from castle turret to country road, from village stages and wineshops to convent walls and places of healing. Seen through Carola's own eyes, it is a novel of outcasts, artists, fools, healers, and seekers; of a girl who loses the world into which she was born and gradually finds her place among those who live beyond its boundaries.
"Life as Carola was the book that pleased me most. I think it contains my best writing and poetry."
- Joan Grant
