
Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife
The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women
Author: Hetta Howes
Narrator: Amy Noble
Unabridged: 10 hr 25 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 01/07/2025
Categories: Nonfiction, History, Women, Biography & Autobiography, European History
Synopsis
Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife charts the lives and times of four medieval women writers—Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a no-good wife—who all bucked convention and forged their own paths. Largely forgotten by modern readers, these women have an astonishing amount to teach us about love, marriage, motherhood, friendship, and earning a living.
Reading the words of these four writers, Hetta Howes engagingly reveals how everyday women lived, survived, and thrived in medieval times. Who did they marry and why? Did they ever have extramarital affairs? Could they earn money and become self-sufficient? Could they be leaders? What did they think about death—and what about life and their place in it? Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife paints a vibrant portrait of these women, their world, and the ways they speak to us today.

