Fifteen years after devastating regime change, England is in the grip of Norman rule. Alien laws, customs and languages are transforming people s lives from the highest to the lowest levels of society. Only the poetry, tales, stories and songs from the old times remain in the collective memory as vestiges of a former life. In this world, Aefled, a young woman of intelligence and education, sensitive to the poetic tradition of her people, dares to harbour the unthinkable ambition of writing an epic poem about the Conquest. But when she is forced from her home by a Norman lord and finds herself caught up in the turbulence of conflicting loyalties and passions, the nature of her ambition takes a surprising turn.
This is the story of Aefled s journey of discovery during the course of one unforgettable summer as she negotiates the perilous boundaries between real and imagined worlds.
Reviews of Aefled & Eleanor: A Poet’s Tale
“Thoroughly researched and powerfully written….”
Angela Livingstone, Professor Emeritus, Department of Literature, Essex University,
“This novel, set in East Anglia in 1081, deals with cultural clashes, cruelties and incipient friendships between Normans and the English. Thoroughly researched and powerfully written, it imagines the rural life at that time, including murders and childbirths, prophetic ‘seeings’ and secret bardic singings reconnecting people to the ancient dignities of language and land….The book’s subtitle is important. The talented Aefled –who has learnt much from a wandering Jewish scholar – dreams of composing an epic poem about her own experiences of the Norman conquest; her inspired writing of poetry makes for some of the novel’s greatest passages. I strongly recommend this book to everyone interested in literature, history and the spirit of survival.”
Poet and Translator. Winner of the Rossica Translation Prize 2014
“Arresting and original…”
Robert Nye, prizewinning poet and novelist
“Aefled & Eleanor: A Poet’s Tale is arresting and original. I like in particular the whole conception of a female poetry and the way this is matched in images coming out of and dealing with the womb of things, the weave of life as lived from day to day and apprehended from a woman’s consciousness. A fine book.”
‘An extraordinary achievement…’
Herbie Butterfield, academic and literary critic, author of studies of Hart Crane and Robinson Jeffers and numerous essays on other American writers. He has also edited a collection of essays on Modern American Poetry.
‘Emotionally compelling and convincing…’
‘Clearly stands on a firm base of extensive research and broad historical learning…’
‘Beautifully written, it has the narrative drive of the best kind of mystery thriller…’