A brilliant, lush, sweeping historical novel about the rise of the most powerful woman of the Middle Ages: Hild In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, frequently and violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods are struggling, their priests worrying. Hild is the king’s youngest niece, and she has a glimmering mind and a natural, noble authority. She will become a … will become a fascinating woman and one of the pivotal figures of the Middle Ages: Saint Hilda of Whitby.
But now she has only the powerful curiosity of a bright child, a will of adamant, and a way of seeing the world–of studying nature, of matching cause with effect, of observing her surroundings closely and predicting what will happen next–that can seem uncanny, even supernatural, to those around her.
Her uncle, Edwin of Northumbria, plots to become overking of the Angles, ruthlessly using every tool at his disposal: blood, bribery, belief. Hild establishes a place for herself at his side as the king’s seer. And she is indispensable–unless she should ever lead the king astray. The stakes are life and death: for Hild, for her family, for her loved ones, and for the increasing numbers who seek the protection of the strange girl who can read the world and see the future.
Hild is a young woman at the heart of the violence, subtlety, and mysticism of the early Middle Ages–all of it brilliantly and accurately evoked by Nicola Griffith’s luminous prose. Working from what little historical record is extant, Griffith has brought a beautiful, brutal world to vivid, absorbing life.
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This book was so difficult to read — so many characters with strange names spelled in such a way as you could never pronounce them. I got lost over and over trying to keep all the characters straight due to their medieval names (lots of vowels). I had to refer back to the glossary over and over to understand what was going on. Many words were not …
The book functions on different levels, and is partly based on the scant information we have on the medieval Saxon world of the C7th. The book has a very full cast of people and names, taxing the reader to look again and again at the glossary or Who’s Who list at the back. The print version is easy to navigate, just flip back and forth as names …
I saw this book mentioned in a magazine and it sounded so interesting I wanted to read it. My husband bought it for me for Christmas and I just now read it. I immediately loved the rich descriptions. The story starts when Hild is three and follows her as she grows both in body and mind into both the King’s seer and a warrior. The unfolding of her …