Gilbert imagines the inner workings on Julian in a beautiful way. It tells the story of Julian beginning in her childhood and moving though marriage, motherhood, loss, grief, and her journey to becoming and Anchoress (which is to be classified to the world as dead - bricked in to the end of a church for the remainder of her life). In this book Gilbert has turned scant facts into a wonderful fictional autobiography. I enjoyed Gilbert's novel, written in meditative prose. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy.

This is a difficult book to categorise, but I absolutely loved it, and though I received a free digital copy from Netgalley I've just ordered a physical copy so I can lend it to others.

As the subtitle makes clear, this is a fictional autobiography of Julian of Norwich - someone I knew of, mostly from her most famous quotation (at least to me!) 'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well', but knew very little about.

Gilbert's work is compelling historical fiction, but it often reads like a devotional memoir. Julian's life is touched by loss, through pestilence, death and her own decision to live as an anchorite, locked into a cell attached to a church for decades. Yet first through her visions, then through her later years of contemplation she gains a deep and abiding sense of God's love.

I, Julian is beautifully written, capturing the voice of a woman we can only really know through very brief historical records and her own centuries old words with a clarity that is compelling. I loved this book and feel I will return to it.

This book is of great interest to me as I live in Norwich where there is growing interest in reclaiming Julian and her history.
I liked the fleshing out of her story and all of the historical sources at the end but I did always feel like i was reading the story through the veil (or curtain to her cell) and I never really fell in to the story.

It's been a long time since I connected as much to a character as I did to Julian. Claire Glibert's imagination of the life of Julian of Norwich is compassionate and insightful. I loved walking alongside Julian's journey of growth from a young girl struggling to love a God she perceived as angry, to a woman who is confident in her calling. When Julian entered her anchorhold midway through the novel I wondered how Gilbert would keep up the interest to the end, but she did it. The entire book was interesting and alive. Gilbert's description of Julian's feelings on being bricked up in the anchorhold was visceral, as were the descriptions of other moments of agitation and feelings of entrapment. I appreciated how Julian's journey after becoming an anchoress wasn't linear but had periods of stagnation and growth. Gilbert's portrayal of grief is raw and real. I was brought to tears more than once. "I Julian" portrayed a world that needs many kinds of people called to many different things, and it showed these all without judgement, and that is beautiful.

The fictional autobiography of a very real woman who is credited for being the first female author to write in English.

This was a very intriguing novel, and I am very glad that I was able to read it. Julian’s writing starts with her first memories, and we follow her through the pain of losing her father, learning how to read, and growing up with a childhood that influenced who she became. Her marriage to Martin, and the birth of their daughter, the second plague, and the horrible news of the peasants revolt. Her visions of God, and her dreams to share and understand these visions with the people around her. I loved Julian, and how her calling to a simple anchoress life led to this amazing work.

I did skim through the last 15%, only because my copy was formatted quite poorly, and I could not understand much of the very heavy talks about Jesu.

This was still an amazing novel, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the life of medieval women. Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

I, Julian is a fictional autobiography of Julian of Norwich, first female anchoress and author of the earliest surviving English works by a woman. When a near-death illness causes her to have visions of God that strike a chord with many, she becomes a hermit living in Norwich and writes religious texts. In her lifetime she experiences several rounds of black death as well as the peasants' revolt, and her writings are considered somewhat radical and dangerous by the church.

This is a wonderful book. It's written as Julian reciting the story to her close friend Thomas, and it truly comes alive in this format. Claire Gilbert's prose is gorgeous and evocative, and although I got a bit lost with some of the Jesus stuff towards the end, I was absolutely enthralled throughout the whole book.

This book was amazing - a fictionalized look at the life of Julian of Norwich, but deeply moving and thought provoking. I found myself caught up in Julian's story and feeling all of the emotions with her.

The only thing I didn't like was the format - it downloaded to my Kindle horribly.

Gets to the pulse of a mystic's beating heart. The author does s great job of pulling together factual accounts and bringing them to life. Julian of Norwich is a picture of obedience, at any cost.

This fictional account of the life of Julian of Norwich is beautiful and truly unique. There isn't very much known about the life of Julian of Norwich apart from her own writings, but the author has taken the bits that are known, along with historical information of the 1300s and the town of Norwich and created a fictional autobiography that is creative, moving, and a joy to read. I would recommend this to anyone who like historical fiction, especially of the 14th century and anyone who wants to read about a woman's experience of God and how she expressed this experience in the first written account by one of the most important women of the 14th century.

Julian of Norwich is someone who has interested me for quite some time. I was looking forward to reading this book and expanding my knowledge of her.

However, I just could not get into it. I am not saying that this is a bad book, only that it was probably the wrong time for me to be reading it. I'm not sure why, but I will try it again at a later time when maybe I will get further with it.

Fascinating and an interesting look at 13th century living and religion.
A remarkable choice to shut yourself away for decades but now perhaps more understable after reading the book.

Claire Gilbert has produced a masterpiece. “I Julian” is a totally convincing, though mostly fictional, biography of Julian of Norwich, clearly based on careful research. It describes how tragedy touched her, and her search for independence at a time when there were very few options for women. More than that, it details Julian's struggle to answer the fundamental question: if a loving God exists (and is omnipotent), why is the world full of suffering? As a mystic, her interpretation of the visions she experiences lead her to the famous conclusion that “All will be Well.”

Is Claire Gilbert a Buddhist? Julian's meditative and other spiritual practices give her insights that almost match those of Buddhism. For example, with the tool of a mantra, Julian says that:
“…using no words save perhaps one word, and with that little word gently repeating my soul quietens and softens and the little word enters me and brings me to deep, deep rest in my soul, which becomes no place. Everything has dissolved, even the little word, and there is only God beholding in me and I am no one and no where.”
And later, she experiences something like what Zen Buddhists would call satori:
“ I give up. I let go. Of everything. I stay there for a long time in quiet, light, fearless, blissful emptiness.”

No matter! The truth is universal, whatever framework you use to find it, as Julian of Norwich did.

Beautifully written novelised account of the life of the fourteenth century anchoress and writer, Julian of Norwich, imagining — from the scant biographical sources we have — what her life may have been like.

Through lilting, spiritual prose, Gilbert manages to both capture the writing styles and linguistic turns of the period she depicts and simultaneously transform them into modern prose, creating an immersive experience of the fourteenth century and a distinct voice for her interpretation of Julian of Norwich. This voice is often complex, expressing the difficulties of faith in the face of despair, questioning one’s relationship to authority, and the enduring pain of love in all its forms. Thus, what emerges from Gilbert’s writing is an immersive, meditative and sensitive imagination.

Nevertheless, I found at times the pacing of the book struggled to keep me engaged — especially through the second half where her time in the anchorage sometimes became repetitive in a way that I felt didn’t give compelling insight into the repetitive life of such seclusion and meditation, but rather relied on a to-and-froing of religious thought. I, however, was perhaps not the intended audience for these sections — being not particularly religious— so I would expect that such repetition would resonate better with others who do not need the insight explaining to them in the same way.

The last fifty pages or so — as Julian writes her book in English and realises the risk she takes in doing this — we’re particularly excellent in marrying religious thought with social experience and the nature of seclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the free ebook in exchange for my honest review :)

Beautifully written and poignant. It was easy to step in to the shoes of Julian and experience the Divine from her perception.

A fictionalized autobiography of 14th-century anchoress Julian of Norwich, Claire Gilbert’s novel features stunning, meditative prose that entrances readers. While taking many creative liberties with her narrative, Gilbert effectively captures both the vicissitudes of Julian’s life and the broader tribulations of plague-ridden, pre-protestant England. I was impressed by the way Gilbert crafted a believable medieval setting, complete with the context of Wycliffian dissidents and references to Chaucer. This novel is a beautiful way in for readers seeking a more personal understanding of the tensions within Christianity during the Late Middle Ages.

While Gilbert’s writing was of remarkable merit, I found the pacing of the novel to be, at times, frustrating. The life of an anchoress is not one of action, of course, but Gilbert’s prose is largely centered around Julian’s mystical visions and the ripples they create within her faith, and these revelations often felt repetitive. I think there is more labor that could have been done with Julian’s character. By the time she makes the decision to go into hermitage, I was not thoroughly convinced of the weight of her past trauma that Gilbert outlines in the beginning of the text.

Moreover, I think this novel may be difficult to get into for readers who are not enthusiastically Christian or, at least, have an interest in theology and its history. Simply put: there is a lot of god in this book. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Gilbert’s novel and finished it feeling satisfied with and compelled by Julian as a figure.

There were quite a few liberties taken with this story, but I think this book aptly illustrates the incredible life and spirituality of St. Julian of Norwich. This book is a great starting point for those that are unfamiliar with her writings and/or her life story

This is a strange, slow-moving story-- a fictional autobiography about Julian of Norwich, an early Christian mystic and "anchoress." Julian is also believed to be one of the first women to author a book in English. It looks like the author took a lot of care to ground her story in research and well-supported inference, and so I enjoyed learning about the time period and the tension between the Roman Catholic church and the reformation. The centerpiece of the story is Julian's visions and subsequent decision to become an "anchoress," essentially, someone who is declared legally dead and walls themselves up in a cell attached to a church for the remainder of their life. This decision is grounded in her strong desire to understand a series of visions she had, to contemplate their meaning, and to turn her thinking inwards. She also counsels others who seek her out her spiritual advice, writes her book ("Revelations of Divine Love") in secret, and contemplates the merits of the reformation. A decision that seems completely incomprehensible (choosing solitary confinement?) makes a lot of sense in the context of the narrative.

A gripping story that pulled me in and kept me reading
This is the story of Julian of Norwich, the author of one of the first books written in English by a woman, Revelations of Divine Love, it takes the reader through some of the problems she faced in her lifetime and how all this impacted on her
I first heard about Julian of Norwich in a BBC documentary presented by Dr Janina Ramirez and it caught my attention so when I saw that there had been a book written which looks into what could have happened in her life I really wanted to read it. I’m going to add a note here, I’m not really religious, but Julian’s story pulled me in and made me realise that I can’t look at the story from where I am now but instead have to put myself in the 1300 and 1400’s and read it through their mindset and I think this really helped me to connect, to understand more about what is going on and if I’m honest, understand some of the deeper religious issues that as a modern person I didn’t ‘get’ before.
Ms Gilbert’s writing style drew me into the story and I could so easily see in my mind what was going on and how her religious visions really changed Julian’s outlook on life, and why she eventually made the decision to live as an anchoress. It’s not an easy subject to write about but Ms Gilbert does it with a style and taste that made the reader forget the outside world and has them involved in Julian’s life and invested in what happened to her
This is not a book for the faint hearted, and I suspect that much of the religious aspect will deter some readers but I urge people to look beyond that and take a journey into the past, written in a way that I’m not sure I have read before but which will have you supporting Julian and having your focus on her and may even have you questioning your own thoughts and beliefs

This format is unreadable. Please send a new copy if you would like me to review it. Have a great day.

What would motivate an ordinary medieval woman to withdraw from the world and become an anchoress, vowing to live out her remaining years in a small cell attached to a church and devote her time to spiritual contemplation?

In her first novel, I, Julian, Claire Gilbert re-creates the spiritually rich, life-affirming voice of Julian of Norwich, the 14th-15th century mystic whose writings are the first known works by a woman in English. Little is known about the particulars of her life, including her birth name, and Gilbert has filled in the gaps with this marvelous historical reconstruction.

At age 30, having narrowly survived a bout of severe illness, Julian began seeing visions of the Passion of Christ and dedicated her remaining days to soul-searching, prayer, and the sharing of what she glimpsed, realizing the importance of her knowledge for others.

Gilbert imagines a plausible autobiography for Julian, from her quiet childhood with her loving parents in a smallholding outside Norwich, through the tragic years of the Black Plague, the steady encouragement of her mother and others, the terrible grief and guilt she endures, and the transformative experience of her visions, or “showings.” Her words are taken down by a trusted Benedictine monk called Thomas.

It becomes an interesting paradox (addressed in full in the story) that Julian’s physical retreat from the world means complete reliance on others to provide for her needs: food, medical help, and the regular supply of writing materials. The author writes beautifully about Julian's religious life as well as her humanity. Through a window from her anchorhold into the church, she gives her confession and participates in religious services; through a curtained window to the outdoors, she converses with spiritual seekers, friends, her maid, and others whose purpose is less benevolent.

In the late 14th century, the followers of John Wycliffe are amassing, seeking to make the Bible more accessible via English translation, and Julian must tread carefully so as not to be associated with the controversial movement (even while quietly pondering its merits). Throughout her long life, both enclosed and not, Julian remains curious and eager to learn more about God’s feelings toward humankind, which she comes to learn is eternally loving.

Readers of Mary Sharratt’s Illuminations and Revelations (about Hildegard of Bingen and Margery Kempe, respectively) will especially want to pick up I, Julian, and it’s also recommended for anyone interested in the lives of accomplished historical women.