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For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

Winner of the Scottish National First Book Awards 2023

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For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain

By: Victoria MacKenzie
Narrated by: Charlie Norfolk, Stephanie Racine
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Bloomsbury presents For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie, read by Charlie Norfolk and Stephanie Racine.

An astounding debut, both epic and intimate, about grief, trauma, revelation, and the hidden lives of women – by a major new talent

'Miraculously conjured ... Brilliantly done' THE TIMES, Book of the Month
'A beautiful book ... It warmed my heart' MAX PORTER
'Electrifying ... A pocket epic' GUARDIAN
'The best first novel I've read in years ... So full and so vivid; it is amazing' RODDY DOYLE
'A vibrant portrait of female courage' OBSERVER

Winner of the Scottish Book Awards – First Book of the Year
Selected as a book of the year by the Sunday Times, Guardian, Scotsman and Irish Times

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In the year of 1413, two women meet for the first time in the city of Norwich.

Margery has left her fourteen children and husband behind to make her journey. Her visions of Christ – which have long alienated her from her family and neighbours, and incurred her husband’s abuse – have placed her in danger with the men of the Church, who have begun to hound her as a heretic.

Julian, an anchoress, has not left Norwich, nor the cell to which she has been confined, for twenty-­three years. She has told no one of her own visions – and knows that time is running out for her to do so.

The two women have stories to tell one another. Stories about girlhood, motherhood, sickness, loss, doubt and belief; revelations more powerful than the world is ready to hear. Their meeting will change everything.

Sensual, vivid and humane, For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain cracks history open to reveal the lives of two extraordinary women.

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'Magnificent, bold and compelling' ROSIE ANDREWS, author of the Sunday Times-bestselling The Leviathan

'A startling read ... Magic' JO BROWNING WROE, author of the Sunday Times-bestselling A Terrible Kindness

'Intimately observed, lyrically written and meticulously researched. I loved this' KIRSTY LOGAN, author of Things We Say in the Dark©2023 Victoria MacKenzie (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Medieval Women's Fiction Middle Ages Marriage
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Critic reviews

Electrifying … This slim novel is a pocket epic; you will read it in no time but be thinking about it for ages after ... You feel in every sentence the weight of history pressing down on and confining these women (FRANK COTTRELL-BOYCE)
This slim but powerful novel follows both medieval figures through their lives to the point of the fateful meeting
A tiny marvel, tenderly illuminating the inner lives of Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich
It is an extraordinary feat of historical ventriloquism; the women’s inner lives, their religiosity, their sense of place in the world is miraculously conjured ... Brilliantly done
Transfixing ... A vibrant portrait of female courage
I adored Victoria Mackenzie’s sparse and lyrical debut ... It’s intimate, moving and a wonderful snapshot of two extraordinary women’s lives (Jan Carson)
A novel like this requires exquisite balance, not to tip the hand towards one or other of the paired yet opposing characters. This achieves that admirably. It would also be a clever choice for the National Theatre of Scotland to adapt
Lightly done but intensely felt, it’s mind-expanding stuff
I’ve already finished Victoria Mackenzie’s limpid novella … in which she imagines the meeting between Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich, two great, but wildly different, English mystics (IRINA DUMITRESCU)
A beautiful book. I loved it. Margery and Julian are both so alive. The invisible balancing and weighing MacKenzie has done across the whole to bring them dialogue with each other and to bring the reader into emotional and spiritual connectedness with them is just so brilliant. And it’s funny. It warmed my heart (MAX PORTER, author of Lanny)
Superlative ... Striking, elegant.. a novel like this requires exquisite balance ... this achieves this admirably
A startling read .... Brings the historical fiction magic of allowing us to inhabit a time, place and perspective so very different from our own (JO BROWNING WROE, author of A Terrible Kindness)
Stunningly original ... Her skill is in creating a story that goes much deeper than its slender spine and spare prose might suggest to not only shine a light on the lives and experiences of two ‘ordinary’ women, but to draw clear contemporary echoes and parallels – around mental health, grief, motherhood and more – that resonate long after reading
This is the best first novel I've read in years. It is short, yet so full and so vivid; it is amazing. (RODDY DOYLE, author of LOVE)
Moving and unexpected, Mackenzie writes with great clarity and tenderness ... I tore through this (JULIA ARMFIELD, author of OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA)
For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain is a novel of rare brightness and clarity, concise and yet capacious: it illuminates the meeting of two extraordinary women like a shaft of sunlight (IMOGEN HERMES GOWAR, author of Women's Prize-shortlisted THE MERMAID AND MRS HANCOCK)
All stars
Most relevant
Very interesting insight into Medieval women's lives and the position of religion in society, I enjoyed it.

Sincerity

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Brings these two very different women to life and in so doing grounds the theological points it contains in a (imagined) lived reality that rings true today

Enthralling story of two important medieval women

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These two ladies must surely be the two most important Medieval women. Most enlightening, compelling & comforting

Loved it!

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There is not a wasted word in this book, it is beautifully written with lovely touches of humour and images to remember and make you think. The sights and sounds of medieval life are skilfully evoked as clearly as the internal lives of these women and as you read, you can't wait to hear more of their story. Please do not be put off by the religious aspect or medieval setting, this is a book that speaks of women's experiences throughout time.

This is a wonderful book!

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At first I was unsure if this was something I would enjoy. But soon two voices became one. A duet of voice and spirit.
Stunning.
Wonderfully read, engaging throughout, and I more spiritually intelligent as a result. Thank you.

Stunning

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