Wild: Tales From Early Medieval Britain

Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain by Amy Jeffs is a full body experience.

It’s the type of book that you hold in your hands and can’t wait to find a place for on your nightstand. It’s visually enthralling, the detailed woodcuts on the cover and copper highlights drawing you in. Then you open the book, trace the original woodcuts with your finger, and begin to read. Jeffs’ atmospheric and lyrical prose brings the voices of earlier centuries alive. From a woman trapped inside a burial mound to medieval dreams of paradise, each of the stories and the accompanying explanation is a singular gem that, when put together, become a treasure hoard of words and images. In addition (for the true medieval geeks reading), the original Saxon poems and translations are pure joy, with lines that feel remarkably prescient about our own times and haunt long after reading.

“Gone are the days / when nations made sense; / gone are the kings and the emperors, / the gold-givers of yesteryear […] / the consensus collapsed, / now only the craven carry on.”

This is one of the few books that I’ll be exploring in audio also, since the audiobook uses songs in place of the woodcuts.