Pope Joan

My latest book that I thought was worth writing about is Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross. I really enjoyed it, but was frustrated alot! It takes place in the 800's. Not the 1800's, the 800's. The main character is a Catholic girl who wants to learn, and have some of the privileges men did. I knew women have been mistreated in the past but had no idea how terrible it was for them! Someone could rape you and it was treated like a theft. Nothing that serious. If you were coloni, you could be killed for fighting a man for trying trying to rape you! Your husband had every right to beat you it just depended on what size of club he hit you with! You couldnt learn to read or write, it would you hamper your childbearing abilities. They really didnt believe we were capable to learn or understand the things a man could. Joan in this book decides to pretend to be a man so she can go to the schola. She eventually becomes the pope. This is part of the catholic church history they deny. There is more proof that she existed than there is that King Arthur did.
I understood why she didnt want to be a girl, but the deciet of it all frustrated me where she was supposed to be a religious leader.
Read it and tell me what you think,and if you believe she existed.