Meghann "Meggie" Cleary O'Neill

Meggie has beautiful red-gold hair, blue eyes, and smooth white skin without freckles. She is a beautiful but lonely child of nine when Father Ralph de Bricassart first sees her. Initially she attends a convent school, but must soon leave school to help her mother with the growing family. Growing up on a sheep ranch with 8 brothers and a mother completely preoccupied with household chores, Meggie is curiously naive. She has no idea what menstruation is, and when she begins to bleed at the rather advanced age of 15, she believes she is dying from a mysterious internal cancer. As a young girl, Meggie believes babies are started when a married women wishes for one. In her late teens, Meggie begins to realize some physical contact with a man is required, but believes it is kissing that starts babies.

Meggie is shocked on her honeymoon to...