Association of Catholic Publishers Award: Biography

Nautilus GOLD Book Award in Religion/Spirituality: Western Traditions

National Indie Excellence Book Awards: Religion

Julian of Norwich, a medieval English mystic who spent the latter part of her life as an enclosed anchoress, is largely known through her extraordinary Revelations, one of the most popular and influential works of Christian mysticism. It was also the first book ever written by a woman in the English language. But until now, the woman herself was an elusive figure.

In this fascinating work, Veronica Mary Rolf has offered a convincing reconstruction of Julian's life in fourteenth-century Norwich, along with a comprehensive chapter-by-chapter commentary on her Revelations--rendered here in a new and faithful translation from the Middle English.

Julian's Gospel goes in-depth to uncover the political, cultural, social, and religious milieu that formed and deeply influenced her development as a woman and a mystic. Throughout, the book creates a strong dramatic arc for Julian's Revelations that interweaves her personal sufferings and burning questions with her visionary experiences, producing a compelling spiritual biography. Julian of Norwich comes fully alive in this work, her intense spirituality bearing a message of surprising relevance to our own era.