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Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval, I'm Matt Lewis. Julian of Norwich lived through

the second half of the 14th century and into the 15th. She's most famous for being associated

with her writings, the earliest English language text attributed to a woman,

and the only writings by an anchoress that we have. Julian's life, particularly prior to taking

on her role at St Julian's Church in Norwich, is shrouded in mystery and it's been widely debated.

So to learn more about this fascinating figure, I'm joined today by Claire Gilbert,

whose new book, I Julian, is a fictional autobiography of Julian's life that definitely

weaves together the known facts. Thank you very much for joining us, Claire.

Hello, it's lovely to be here. It's great to have the chance to talk about someone like Julian.

And I think you're going to start us off with a little reading from your book just to set the

scene, which is fantastic. So thank you very much. So this is the passage which follows Julian

losing her husband and daughter to the second wave of the pestilence, as they called it,

in 14th century, which particularly took children and young men. And she feels guilty because it

happened while she escaped to the forest for a bit of time for herself. In the time that follows,

I move as one who is walking through thick slime. The air is heavy, my body is heavy,

every task is a burden to me and every person I meet is a stranger. I have nothing to live for,

and I do not wish to live. Some servants return. The household revives a little.

The merchant thing begins again under John's direction, but I eat only because the maid brings me

...