For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

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Margery has left her fourteen children and husband behind to make her journey. Her visions of Christ – which have long alienated her from her family and neighbours, and incurred her husband’s abuse – have placed her in danger with the men of the Church, who have begun to hound her as a heretic.

Peccato che per le prime 141 pagine di 170 non succede niente, solo allora le due si incontrato, fino a quel momento riporta in maniera del tutto monotona i loro pensieri. Comprendo il contenuto, ma non si può parlare della stessa cosa per 141 pagine con le stesse parole. One of the few details we know of Julian’s life is that, in 1413, another remarkable woman who saw visions of God, Margery Kempe, came to visit her. A merchant’s daughter and mother of 14 from King’s Lynn, Kempe also has her place in English literature. Though her actual horizon is as small as can be, she comes to see all of life afresh with a potent clarity. There are, of course, moments of despair – she is certainly no plaster saint – but through a series of visions she glimpses an answer to the questions that torment her, and with it an acceptance.

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Julian, an anchoress, has not left Norwich, nor the cell to which she has been confined, for twenty-­three years. She has told no one of her own visions - and knows that time is running out for her to do so. The Book of Margery Kempe, an account dictated to a scribe of her visions of Christ, her often tear-stained travels on a pilgrimage around Europe and beyond, and the charges of heresy she faced, is arguably the first autobiography written in ­English by man or woman. Lost for many centuries, the tale of its rediscovery – in 1934, in a cupboard in a country house by a guest ­looking for a ping-pong ball – has only added to its reputation. Margery has left her fourteen children and husband behind to make her journey. Her visions of Christ – which have long alienated her from her family and neighbours, and incurred her husband's abuse – have placed her in danger with the men of the Church, who have begun to hound her as a heretic. A startling read ... Magic' JO BROWNING WROE, author of the Sunday Times-bestselling A Terrible Kindness A novel that fearlessly investigates the medieval mind ... Honest, insightful, erudite and wise -- ANNIE GARTHWAITE, author CECILY

Have a listen to Victoria's conversation with Shahidha Bari on BBC Radio 4's Front Row (recording begins at 15:13) Magnificent, bold and compelling ... The writing is sometimes raw, at other times very beautiful - and from a place of deep knowledge and love of the historical period -- ROSIE ANDREWS, author of THE LEVIATHANMagnificent, bold and compelling' ROSIE ANDREWS, author of the Sunday Times-bestselling The Leviathan Having studied and enjoyed the works of both Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich during my Masters, I was excited to hear that there was a novella imagining a situation whereby the two women meet. Her voice swanned and preened and boasted,” the anchoress will observe of her visitor. “Yet there was another note to her song. Margery Kempe was the loneliest woman I had ever met.”

But hers is not the only story. Margery’s wandering quest orbits a very still centre – the life of the anchorite Julian of Norwich, confined to a tiny cell and effectively living out her days in her own tomb. “A nun is a bride of Christ and so has a nuptial mass, but becoming an anchorite is a death. I had to die to the world.”Entrambe, sebbene per motivi diversi, vissero una vita di sofferenza e dolore fino al momento dell'avvicinamento a Dio, nel quale, non solo troveranno la loro ragione d'essere, ma sfideranno tutti gli schemi sociali pur di vivere a pieno il loro credo. Sì, perché essere anacorete o profete in quel periodo storico significava rischiare l'accusa di eresia e la condanna al rogo. Julian, an anchoress, has not left Norwich, nor the cell to which she has been confined, for twenty- three years. She has told no one of her own visions - and knows that time is running out for her to do so. Ho letto le prime 50 pagine tutte d’un fiato, mi sono detta:”oh, finalmente sono incappata in un buon romanzo” e niente, non è stato così.”

Margery has left her fourteen children and husband behind to make her journey. Her visions of Christ - which have long alienated her from her family and neighbours, and incurred her husband's abuse - have placed her in danger with the men of the Church, who have begun to hound her as a heretic. A caveat: engaging as both books are, I found the ease with which both recount the fact of the Shewings to be underwhelming. Where is the terror, the sense of awe, the sheer trepidation with which Julian was catapulted into the extraordinary realm of mysticism which she came to inhabit? Intimately observed, lyrically written and meticulously researched' KIRSTY LOGAN, author of THINGS WE SAY IN THE DARKJulian, an anchoress, has not left Norwich, nor the cell to which she has been confined, for twenty--three years. She has told no one of her own visions - and knows that time is running out for her to do so. TWO books that constellate around the life and writings of Julian of Norwich. Both are written in the first person and offer an autobiographical account. Both have captured the voice of Julian in such an authentic way that their text could easily be transferred directly to the stage. Both demand performance.