I, Julian: The fictional autobiography of Julian of Norwich

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Sin is behovely (inevitable in context, perhaps beneficial to someone) and carries no fault (it is simply bad, like a trip or a fall). The independent-minded quarterly magazine that combines good looks, good writing and a personal approach. Claire Foster-Gilbert inhabits Julian of Norwich in the way that Hilary Mantel immersed herself in Cromwell. Everything has dissolved, even the little word, and there is only God beholding in me and I am no one and no where.

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. And the person speaking would after a time fall into silence, and she would hold their gaze with her loving look, and the love would reflect in their faces as sweet lightness. It is as if we have finally found the lost autobiography of one of the medieval world's most important women. 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. 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.We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal. From the author of Miles to Go before I Sleep comes I, Julian, the account of a medieval woman who dares to tell her own story, battling grief, plague, the church and societal expectations to do so. Yet first through her visions, then through her later years of contemplation she gains a deep and abiding sense of God's love. Julian's meditative and other spiritual practices give her insights that almost match those of Buddhism.

This book is going to introduce many new readers to Julian and inspire others who know her slightly to go back with fresh eyes and a reinvigorated sense of how her writing developed and in what sort of historical setting. As time passes, she must overcome the departure and passing of her ‘minders’: those who love her, including her maid Alice, her confessor Thomas, and her benefactor the Countess of Sussex. It is a beautiful, intensely moving achievement which not only excites literary admiration: it renews the reader's faith that 'all shall be well'.

For younger bookworms – and nostalgic older ones too – there’s the Slightly Foxed Cubs series, in which we’ve reissued a number of classic nature and historical novels. 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. Written with profound insight, spiritual and psychological, and a rare sensitivity to the everyday world of the fourteenth century, it is a brilliantly illuminating companion to one of the greatest works of spiritual writing in English. I really felt that I got to know her especially in the early days when she struggled to cope with being imprisoned in one small room. Written with profound insight, spiritual and psychological, and a rare sensitivity to the everyday world of the fourteenth century, I, Julian is a brilliantly illuminating companion to one of the greatest works of spiritual writing in English.

Gilbert uses her own experience of cancer – in particular the dreadful constipation she endured as a result of the anti-sickness medication she was prescribed – to evoke Julian’s ordeal of bodily pain. As a mystic, her interpretation of the visions she experiences lead her to the famous conclusion that “All will be Well. Julian's voice rings out true on every page and a deep understanding of her world and her work underpins each line. Written with profound insight , spiritual and psychological, and a rare sensitivity to the everyday world of the fourteenth century, it is a brilliantly illuminating companion to one of the greatest works of spiritual writing in English . To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

In Gilbert’s account, Julian was just a child when she watched her father, a Norwich wool merchant, die in agony from the plague, and when her visions begin she assumes she too is dying of the pestilence – as her husband and daughter have done. We see Julian’s early life from 1347: childhood, the great Plague, death of her father, her marriage, recurrence of plague, death of Julian’s husband and daughter, and her rejection of the prospect of remarriage. Claire Gilbert inhabits Julian of Norwich in the way that Hilary Mantel immersed herself in Cromwell. Throughout her book, Ms Gilbert uses the device of Thomas as Julian’s interlocutor; much of the tale is related by Julian in ‘conversation’ with him. Battling grief, plague, the church and societal expectations, and compelled by her powerful visions, Julian finds a way to live a life of freedom – as an anchoress, bricked up in a small room on the side of a church.

Come to encounters with people and places and nature and God and pain and suffering with an open heart and a welcoming smile and a willingness to learn. All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well', but knew very little about.