Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife

A welcome addition to medieval history, giving us a window into the lives of women that many people only know by name, if at all.' PHILIPPA GREGORY, author of The Other Boleyn Girl and Normal WomenA spectacular, vivid, groundbreaking work of history which takes us into the minds and lives of medieval women.

What was life really like for women in the medieval period? How did they think about sex, death and God? Could they live independent lives? And how can we hear their stories? Few women had the luxury of writing down their thoughts and feelings during medieval times.

But remarkably, there are at least four extraordinary women who did. Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a "no-good wife". In their own ways these four very different writers pushed back against the misogyny of the period.