Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain

Nice and easy service for Xmas present

I absolutely loved Amy Jeffs' 'Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain'. I learned so much about the mindset of our ancestors and their use of language. The stories that began each chapter were beautifully written and deeply moving, especially the first one on the plight of Hos, and I loved how Amy Jeffs took elements of several different medieval stories and joined them together to draw out themes and to bring the protagonists to life. A wonder.

I fell in love with Storyland and then misplaced my copy before I could finish reading it (I think I accidentally put it into one of the book boxes I’ve already packed in anticipation of moving) so I made sure I would not commit such folly with Amy’s second, excellent tome. Wild is just as wondrous as the blurb makes it sound, her retellings spellbinding and her commentaries enlightening and bringing added depth to tales that already felt embracingly human. Her lightness of touch combined with stunning imagary weave wonderful magic, enhanced by the beautiful illustrations. I am really rather tempted to get a copy of the audiobook, where the wood engravings have been replaced by music to ensure the listener receives a similar experience to the reader.   You do not need to have any familiarity whatsoever with the early medieval texts that Amy has worked with but if, like me, you have come across some of them already you may find yourself thinking “is this …” and then being rather pleased to find out you guessed right. I know I will be returning to this book again and again and I’ve already copied out the futher reading list for use the next time I’m at the library or in a second hand book shop.

This book weaves a rich tapestry to bring the medieval world to life - Jeffs engages with the past on many different levels - she revivifies old tales to elucidate their meaning and connect them to a new audience, she immerses herself in historical places, connects creatively through word and image and song, and applies her considerable academic rigour to bring new insights to light for the reader in the analyses. Moving between story and discussion keeps one's attention, and helps the reader to engage both emotionally and intellectually. The result is exceedingly enjoyable, charming and intriguing - I felt like I was being led into old-growth forest, my hand held by an attentive guide, so I didn't feel at all lost.

Not to the standard of Storyland

I picked up the previous book because of beautiful illustrations/prints and was blown away by the stories and myths that i never knew about, written in such a beautiful way. Having enjoyed this so much and the idea behind it, i bought this new book and it didn't disappoint. The illustrations/prints are just as cool as the first book with a really unique style to them. And the stories themselves are something that i will keep for years as part of our shared heritage. I also downloaded the audiobook which is well worth it as it also includes music written and recorded specially for this by the author herself. Awesome! Love it!

These retellings of early texts do a good job of introducing them to a new readership who have been enticed to delve into them from the author's excellent earlier book Storyland.I would have loved to give the book 5 stars but left a bit disappointed on a number of counts. This is a slim volume with double spaced text with the inclusion of a sizable chunk of newly translated medieval text at the back. The inclusion of the original text seemed a bit of redundant padding. The wood engravings while in keeping with the mystery of the tales didn't for me really work as they were often just to small and dark to do themselves justice. The cover picture for example works far better in the slightly enlarged a coloured format of the cover than in the book.Worth the read as an insight into a different world.

The exquisitely designed cover of this book contains art and literature, which combine to create a beautifully described combination of poems and short fiction based on biblical and old world texts about the elements of the natural world in historical times.I enjoyed WILD so much, I bought STORYLAND, the author's first title, after having read just a few of pages.