For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

Product Information

This is an extraordinary novel about two extraordinary women, the books they wrote and how those books survived. In 1934, while looking for a ping pong ball in the house of Lieutenant Colonel William Butler-Bowdon, a guest stumbled upon the only complete manuscript of The Book of Margery Kempe. Butler-Bowdon threatened to throw it on the bonfire, saying “then we may be able to find ping pong balls and bats when we want them”. Fortunately he changed his mind, and the manuscript of the earliest English autobiography is now safely in the British Library. Via a series of letters she sends to her counsellor, a Benedictine monk from Norwich Cathedral, Julian enters into a dialogue with the reader. The words Gilbert gives her segue effortlessly with the words we already know as hers, thanks to Eliot: “I wait patiently, with no urgency. I have been granted all the time there is. I do not try to make anything of what I see. I hold no expectation or assumption that I know anything at all.”

Dramatic interest comes from Julian’s interpretation of the scraps of information that come through the window to her anchorhold. She passes judgement and has opinions. How troubling, then, that the Church also must come under scrutiny. Holy Mother Church can be less than a mother in its dealings, especially with stray mystics. Gilbert’s Julian makes an intellectual leap. She interrogates the Church, too, from the comparative safety of her cell and sets up a dialogue between her mystical and her lived experience. Unfortunately, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain was a huge disappointment. Despite being a novella, the book dragged on and was effectively little more than a description of the hardships the two women had faced. We all know that life was extremely hard during the Medieval times, and this was written realistically, but the premise spoke of a meeting; this did not occur until right at the end of the book and was fleeting to say the least. A startling read ... Magic' JO BROWNING WROE, author of the Sunday Times-bestselling A Terrible Kindness 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. The author may even bring something of her own experience of that search for meaning in ­suffering to bear: Gilbert’s previous book, Miles to Go Before I Sleep (2021), was a thought-provoking account of her own two-and-a-half years of gruelling cancer treatment.

Church Times Bookshop

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.

An astounding debut, both epic and intimate, about grief, trauma, revelation, and the hidden lives of women - by a major new talent 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.Victoria will be in conversation with Sally-Anne, whose 2016 BBC documentary The Search for the Lost Manuscript, tells the story of how Julian’s manuscript was hidden for centuries. They will discuss women’s voices in historical fiction, the tradition of spiritual writing and much more.

Likewise, descriptions of the transcendent can sound awkward and alienating in our secular times when religious literacy is poor, but in reliving Julian’s “shewings” – or visions of God – Gilbert somehow manages to convey the essentials, their psychological and emotional impact, without getting too tangled up with proof of what actually was or wasn’t happening to her: “The rich joy is released like tasty food to a hungry stomach or a blazing fire to a cold body, or strong embrace to a lonely soul, or deep rest to a troubled mind, or the ­sudden cessation of pain.” 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.” Intimately observed, lyrically written and meticulously researched' KIRSTY LOGAN, author of THINGS WE SAY IN THE DARKThis is the best first novel I've read in years. It is short, yet so full and so vivid; it is amazing. -- RODDY DOYLE, author of LOVE

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. 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?Have a listen to Victoria's conversation with Shahidha Bari on BBC Radio 4's Front Row (recording begins at 15:13) 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. Incredibile come da Gennaio a oggi io sia riuscita a incappare in tutte letture noiose o poco interessanti. Questo libro non è stato differente dagli altri, eppure ci avevo creduto. Set in 1413, this novel sees a pivotal meeting of two female mystics from the Middle Ages. Margery Kempe has left her fourteen children and abusive husband behind to make her journey to meet Julian of Norwich, an anchoress withdrawn from the secular world. Margery has visions of Christ that not only get her into trouble with her husband, but also the men of the church, who denounce her visions as heresy. 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.