I’ve been reading fiction set in the middle ages since…well, since I could read! Tales of Arthur and his knights featured largely on my childhood bookshelves. In graduate school, I got the chance to study both the literature and the religion of the middle ages and read up on the source texts. Reading literature from the period itself – whether saints’ lives or poems or travel tales – made me realize how rich the age was, and how few stories we tend to retell. I became passionate about writing more about the experiences of those who didn’t fit the mainstream expectations of gender and sexuality. There are a wealth of tales that need to be retold.
By Alex Myers
There was once, long ago, a foolish king who decreed that women should not, and would not, inherit. Thus when a girl-child was born to Lord Cador – Merlin-enchanted fighter of dragons and Earl of Cornwall – he secreted her away: to be raised a boy so that the family land and honour would remain intact. That child’s name was Silence.
Silence must find their own place in a medieval world that is determined to place the many restrictions of gender and class upon them. With dreams of knighthood and a lonely heart to answer, Silence sets out to define themselves. Soon their silence will be ended.
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By Donna Woolfolk Cross
I love this novel because of how it takes what seems like an impossible story (a female pope?!) and writes it so carefully and compellingly that the impossible becomes completely plausible. The young woman’s journey from her home and family to becoming pope…how she navigates a world that is completely not designed for her…I was totally captivated by the story.
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By Lauren Groff
Matrix pulled me in immediately. I loved the realness of the setting: the mud and the cold and the food and the smells. Life in the middle ages wasn’t easy, and Groff’s novel doesn’t try to romanticize that. I also loved the protagonist, a woman who gradually builds a position of power for herself. Groff explores sexuality and desire, community and meaning, religion and power on a scale that is both personal and profound.
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By Ken Follett
This may be the book that got me hooked on historical fiction about the middle ages. Follet’s account of the cathedral building was both grand in scale and meticulous in detail. I am always amazed when I see castles and cathedrals and wonder – how did that build that? How is it still standing? Follet’s novel answers those questions and also shows the lives of those who did the building – not just the rich and powerful, but the simple stonemasons as well.
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By Umberto Eco
I love a good murder mystery. And when an author can write a compelling whodunit and pair that with a historically accurate depiction of a medieval monastery and then, on top of that, add in some deep reflections on language, desire, and philosophy… swoon! This novel is creepy and captivating and will make you want to visit some catacombs.
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By Marion Zimmer Bradley
If Pillars of the Earth got me into historical fiction set in the middle ages, then The Mists of Avalon is what hooked me for fantasy set in that period. I adored this feminist retelling of King Arthur’s legends – the women, who are in the background and rather one-dimensional in the original, get to be the story-creators here. There are certainly familiar scenes of swords and quests, but there’s also a lot more magic and a lot more mystery and intrigue.
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