I, Julian: The fictional autobiography of Julian of Norwich

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I loved the story telling, from when Julian was a young girl watching her father die from the plague through to her voluntarily being walled up in her cell and how she dealt with that. Hold on tight: the intense first-person narrative is quite hard to read, with many strange formulations of language, but… it is worth it to persevere.

It is as if we have finally found the lost autobiography of one of the medieval world’s most important women. Their questions were not answered, nothing was resolved, life flowed on with its doubts and distresses, but I [Julian’s final confessor, Hugh] never saw a visitor leave without a lighter step and a steadier gaze directed to God. It is as if we have finally found the lost autobiography of one of the medieval world's most important women.

The sharp green new leaves of the birches shimmering in the light, the intoxicating smell of the may, its frothy blossom bud-bursting on the blackthorn, the new ferns unfolding, the springy grass under the horses’ hoofs, this twisted tree trunk and the ivy that clings to it, the rich fresh green that is emerging everywhere. It carries a universal message, a system of belief and of living, that is based on the premise of a loving God, and that is in essence optimistic. using no words save perhaps one word, and with that little word gently repeating my soul quietens and softens and the little word enters me and brings me to deep, deep rest in my soul, which becomes no place.

As a mystic, her interpretation of the visions she experiences lead her to the famous conclusion that “All will be Well. Julian's life is touched by loss, through pestilence, death and her own decision to live as an anchorite, locked into a cell attached to a church for decades. And from a few pages later (p170): “The church is grey stone, its stubby tower built toward heaven, not with the elegance of a spire but with a stable determined intent, open to heaven rather than pointing at it. But she does not align with them and she does not allow them to hijack her renown and rapport with the masses.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

I, Julian is beautifully written, capturing the voice of a woman we can only really know through very brief historical records and her own centuries old words with a clarity that is compelling. Julian's meditative and other spiritual practices give her insights that almost match those of Buddhism.Julian's manuscripts are protected by trusted sisters and are passed from hand to hand, become the first book to be written by a woman in English. It meant I knew the text really well; I was secure in my understanding that there was an ecological dimension and that her method is porosity. This rather wonderful fictional autobiography was published to coincide with the 650th anniversary of Julian first experiencing, in May 1373, the series of 16 visions she wrote about in Revelations of Divine Love. Julian’s manuscripts are protected by trusted sisters and are passed from hand to hand, become the first book to be written by a woman in English.