Reasonably familiar from Anglo-Saxon history texts. Some of these words are still in current spoken usage or are She minimizes her use of Latin-derived vocabulary in favor of words found Her prose is so startlingly beautiful that reading description never feels like work - which is no mean feat, considering that many of her descriptions are about the running of medieval households.Griffith recreates seventh-century England is through her masterful use of In fact, the dislocation has affected my ability to use metaphor in this review: I feel as if I can't say that Griffith has woven a marvelous tapestry of story without first praising her for the skill with which she raised and sheared the sheep whose wool she washed and carded before dyeing and spinning it into the life of this character with whom I've fallen in love. Griffith draws on a wealth of meticulously detailed research to flesh out Hild's surroundings, which is sometimes dislocating: I became deeply aware, while reading, of how effortless it is for me to be warm in winter, obtain food and clothing and communicate with my loved ones. Jennifer Durham/Courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux Her other works include Ammonite, Slow River, The Blue Place, Stay and Always. Nor is this a book of secret history: it demonstrates very deftly how integral women were to society at a time when everyone had to work constantly to assure survival from year to year.Ī native of Yorkshire, England, Nicola Griffith was a self-defense instructor until a multiple sclerosis diagnosis led her to a career in writing. This is a world in which women participate fully on every level of society: they are brewers, shearers, weavers, doctors, queens, seers, warriors, sisters, mothers, wives, friends.

It is a world full of women of different intelligences, backgrounds, and classes - women who speak to each other, work and learn together, love and support each other through war, dynastic conflicts, religious upheaval. Hild is a world built fiber by fiber from the ground up, immersive as a river in rain. Nicola Griffith's Hild flies in the face of that narrative the way a hawk might fly through a spider-web. 'Women were oppressed,' the old chestnut goes, and consequently unimportant in the grand scheme of things except inasmuch as they birthed heirs or sealed national alliances in marriage, so it's no surprise that today's writers find little of interest in their day to day doings, right? Of course there may be the odd exception - an Eleanor of Aquitaine here, an Elizabeth Tudor there - but by and large this is accepted as a truism, an unfortunate element of an unenlightened past and an excuse.

I am used to conversations about women in historical fiction - or, even more bafflingly, in historical fantasy - consisting of apologia for there being so few of them. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Hild Author Nicola Griffith

Hild book review