7 Comments
User's avatar
Jan Harayda's avatar

Agree this is a great review. Curious: Was the

Book of Revelation (singular) called Revelations (plural) back then?

Expand full comment
Mathew Lyons's avatar

Ah, no - that's my slip-up!

Expand full comment
Marian Grudko's avatar

What a brilliant review, Mathew. You captured the account of the 14th century in all its horrors and majesty, and branded that century in a way I've never heard: "often hallucinatory." Yes! Plus Helen Carr quoted Middlemarch - okay, I'm in. Is the book out yet?

Expand full comment
Mathew Lyons's avatar

Thank you! Re "hallucinatory", I had at the back of my mind what @helencastor said to me here about the "fever dream" of the 1350s. https://mathewlyons.substack.com/p/interview-helen-castor

I'm not sure where you are in the world, but the book is certainly out in the UK because I have seen it in shops. I don't know if it's out elsewhere yet, I'm afraid.

Expand full comment
Marian Grudko's avatar

Mathew, I'm in New York. I will call my local bookstore. Thanks for the link to your interview with Helen Carr - will happily read it!

Expand full comment
Lucy Hearne Keane's avatar

Great review. Sounds like a vividly depicted period in history.

Expand full comment
Mathew Lyons's avatar

Thank you! And yes, it is.

Expand full comment