Revelations of Divine Love

Julian of Norwich c. 1395 CE

A series of visions during a severe illness becomes a personal account of God's love and human suffering. In one vision, a tiny object like a hazelnut represents everything God has made.

265 pages 5h 9m reading time

Believed to be the earliest surviving book in English written by a woman, and a classic of Christian spiritual writing.
Argues that God's love is at the center of everything, so that even sin and suffering will finally be healed, summed up in the line "All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."
Describes God not only as a father but also as a mother, and calls Christ "our Mother" who gives birth to us and cares for us.
T. S. Eliot used the words "All shall be well" and other phrases from the book in "Little Gidding," the last of his "Four Quartets," which brought Julian to many modern readers.
Its hopeful picture of a loving God is still widely read and prayed with today, by Christians of many churches and by readers outside any faith.

Visions on a deathbed

In May 1373, at age thirty, she fell so ill that a priest held a cross before her face as she lay dying.
Two versions, years apart

She wrote a short account soon after, then spent about twenty years thinking before writing a much longer version.
Written by an anchoress

She lived walled into a small room beside a church in Norwich, where visitors came to her window for advice.
Nearly lost to history

The long version survived mainly through copies made by English nuns living in exile in France.