For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain, Victoria Mackenzie’s debut novel, is a work of powerfully concise and evocative fiction. The focus is on the meeting of two women in medieval England, whose real lives have been colourfully reimagined by Mackenzie – based on ‘creative engagement’ with contemporary source material written by the women themselves. And what lives these two women, Margery Kempe and Julian Of Norwich, led.
Margery, mother to 14 children, sees her world turn against her as she reveals visions of Christ to those around her. Julian, an anchoress, walled away from the “fussing, brutal, chafing world” in sacred contemplation for 23 years, shares these visions. Their lives are intertwined by their shared experience, though their coming together is overshadowed by the threat of zealots seeking out heresy.
For all its heavy themes and the sense of peril that overhangs their meeting, the two key characters exude great warmth. A modern understanding of the impact of trauma and grief underpins a deeply sympathetic appraisal of the two women. Added to this, Mackenzie’s prose paints a colourful vision of medieval England, which feels not so far away in her skilled hands. Every word in For Thy Great Pain… is deliberately chosen, ensuring that the book’s brevity feels entirely apt.
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain, Victoria Mackenzie (Bloomsbury)
Price: £13.49/£10.49 Ebook. Info: here
words HUGH RUSSELL
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