Menewood by Nicola Griffith
A book review
Menewood follows Nicola Griffith’s 2013 novel Hild, which imagines the early life of the woman—a pagan convert to Christianity—who would found the Abbey of Whitby in 657 A.D. In Hild, readers are introduced to a girl so skilled in interpreting the behavior of birds and animals that she is believed to have the gift of a seer to foretell the future. Menewood continues her story as her uncle, King Edwin, rules over an Anglo-Saxon kingdom that is becoming more and more fractious.
As Lady of Elmet, eighteen-year-old Hild, wise beyond her years in a time of turmoil when young people often did come to power, now governs her own lands under Edwin’s overlordship. With her exceptional intelligence and insight, she rightly guesses that war is coming. She has set up a secret settlement, Menewood, stocking it with the supplies and trusted advisors needed to survive a period of war and upheaval. This secret settlement becomes the base where, after a devastating loss, Hild slowly recuperates, gains a deeper wisdom, and then devises a risky strategy to defeat a murderous tyrant and establish a peaceful future for her people.
Based on Griffith’s thorough research into Anglo-Saxon history and customs, the novel recreates a time and place unfamiliar to most modern readers that will be fascinating to many. A helpful “Cast of Characters” is included to help readers keep track of the numerous characters, while a genealogical chart for those of royal descent indicates the few in that category who are purely fictional. A glossary of Anglo-Saxon words appears at the end of the book, clarifying, for example, that Wulfmonath corresponds to our month of January. Some readers will enjoy exercising their minds to work out details of language and custom on their own—and also to follow the strategic maneuvering in the warfare of Hild’s time, which is not unlike political maneuvering in our own time. Readers who enjoyed Hild will likely relish the continuation of Hild’s story in Menewood. At its close, Hild is still young and not yet an abbess, so we can look forward to another sequel. (2023; 694 pages)