Margareta “Rita” Sunday

Rita is the 35-year-old local nurse who attends to the community. Rita is unmarried, not conventionally attractive, and committed to celibacy. She is an intelligent woman who continues to self-educate about medical science. She also has a keen sense of intuition and observes other people. She lives alone in a cottage by the Thames. Rita was born to a woman who attempted suicide in the last term of pregnancy. She died after Rita was born, and Rita was raised an orphan by nuns in a convent. They named her after Saint Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth, and her surname was given to all the convent’s orphans. As a child, Rita enjoyed learning about and participating in nursing and general care taking. By the age of 17, Rita could deliver a child on her own. She renounced the church and her belief in God and moved...