Revelations by Mary Sharratt

 Margery Kempe (1373-1438) was “a mystic living in the full stream of worldly life – she triumphed in transforming herself from a desperate housewife into an intrepid world traveler and lifelong pilgrim.”

England, 1392. Margery is a daughter of a trader. At the age of nineteen, the seas claim the man she loves. Thus, she marries a man her family picks for her, almost twice her age, to avoid cloistered life. Life behind the walls is not meant for her. She knows that there is so much more beyond some walls or beyond her town of Lynn. She has seen York and she craves to explore other places.

While continuously giving births and to keep herself sane, she makes “weekly visits to Master Alan, the holy and high-learned anchorite who reads” books to her and feeds her mind and spirit. Now pregnant with her fourteenth child, her visions which started with her first birth have intensified strongly and she can’t stop them. She feels that she needs to act on it. And fearing that another pregnancy might kill her, she makes a vow of celibacy.

She becomes a pilgrim and her pilgrimage takes her to Norwich to Dame Julian, an anchoress. Margery kept her visions to herself as she was afraid to be called mad, but in the company of Dame Julian she feels safe to reveal her visions. In return, Julian entrusts Margery with a book of her own revelations. As Margery continues her pilgrimage to Jerusalem at certain stops certain people copy what she carries with her. These are dangerous times, when church tries to get rid of Lollards, punishing those who follow the words of John Wycliffe, who “openly preached against the sale of indulgences. (…) He refused to submit to the prelates. He appealed to Christ alone as the supreme judge.” Those who call upon Christ’s authority above a prelate are in grave danger.

I enjoyed Margery’s journey of self-discovery and transformation. Her pilgrimage puts her on a path of great discovery, of exotic places such as Venice, and of high-learned women and girls. With her eyes wide open to a different world, she sees “a window into the East.” What she rebuked as a young woman, now she greatly admires. Seeing educated women, she questions her own decision. “Their holy calling had elevated them to this sanctuary where their intellects could flourish.”

It was interesting to read about beguines. A community of women, some virgins, some widows, that offered them something between marriage and becoming a cloistered nun.

The story is vividly presented. You witness some terror with your own eyes and smell the flesh of a burning body. You get comfortable with Ignatius, assisting pilgrims across Christendom. You get swept away to a time when women had very little choice in their lives and yet some show us a meaningful path. You can feel the strong-will of Margery and her spirit for exploring the world. She is so happy to visit Danzig and York and craves to see so much more. Her character with other women are all touchingly depicted.

Richly imagined story, engrossingly woven and with beautiful prose, transports a reader to a different time and place. With heroine you deeply care about and witness her journey of self-discovery and transformation.

Release date: 27 April 2021

Source: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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