Down the Common: A Year in the Life of a Medieval Woman: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: This was a one-of-a-kind book Enjoyed it immensely.
Review: This book chronicles a year in the life of a medieval village woman, bringing to life a time for which we have very little documentation. The author has woven a tapestry of family life which lets us see medieval life through the eyes of a serf rather than those of a nobleman. The book is a great find. I hated to finish it, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Middle Ages.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: This book took me back to the days of my childhood in a village in England and the people I knew then even though it was hundreds of years later. The characters are so real and human and the village setting is very authentic. I loved this book and will read it many more times over the years.

Rating:
Summary: A superb book that carries the reader to medieval times
Review: This book truly captures the essence of "life" in medieval times. It is not overly romantic as are many stories of this era, rather it offers insight into the daily activities and thoughts of an ordinary peasant woman. The physical, emotional and social challenges that she faces, while they take place in a time long ago, have relevance for our times today. Aside from the "story" of Marion and her perspective of her small world, the prose of the book is so well done, that the reader is able to see, smell, taste what life must have been like centuries ago. One could also sense the frustrations, the hopes, the joys, and fear of life for Marion. I finished the book with an appreciation for the life of this woman and for how far we have come since then.

Rating:
Summary: A superb book that carries the reader to medieval times
Review: This book truly captures the essence of "life" in medieval times. It is not overly romantic as are many stories of this era, rather it offers insight into the daily activities and thoughts of an ordinary peasant woman. The physical, emotional and social challenges that she faces, while they take place in a time long ago, have relevance for our times today. Aside from the "story" of Marion and her perspective of her small world, the prose of the book is so well done, that the reader is able to see, smell, taste what life must have been like centuries ago. One could also sense the frustrations, the hopes, the joys, and fear of life for Marion. I finished the book with an appreciation for the life of this woman and for how far we have come since then.

Rating:
Summary: An Extraordinary Book
Review: This book, which details the life of an ordinary woman living in a remote, poor medieval village is extraordinary. I had it from the library, but I am buying a copy to send to my daughter who is in China for her Junior Year Abroad. I cannot remember when I last read a novel with such moving power, and one which I was so reluctant to end, for all that I stayed up until 2 am this morning to finish it. It is simply remarkable.

We learn only as much as Marion herself knows about her village and its communal life. It is certainly medieval, but she does not understand that years have dates, nor does she understand geography. From the internal evidence her nameless village seems to be in Kent, some time after the Norman invasion (1066) as is evidenced by the names, but probably before the beginning of the Hundred Years' War (circa 1340). My best guess is that it takes place in the thirteenth century, give or take a few decades.

In English medieval (and later) parlance, a "corn" was any grain kernel, not American maize. In Marion's village this is wheat - barley is called barley. I wish those whose knowledge of medieval Europe comes primarily from movies and romance novels would read actual history, so as not to mislead others through their ignorance.

Marion's village is remote, backward, and poor. Sir Hugh, the local landowner, is such minor gentry that he does not seem to be a knight. The village receives supplies from the outside world in return for its wool once a year, and the only other visitor it might have is a tinker who occasionally appears to mend broken pots, knives, and the like. It is tremendously difficult for modern people to understand how extremely isolated some places were, and how slow things were to change. Still, the first glimmerings of change appear in the village that year, which I will not mention as I do not wish to spoil the pleasure of new readers.

Marion herself is a wonderful creation; a fully actualized woman, with ideas of her own, skilled in housewifery, kind to others, but not a fool. She has a hard life, and she knows it, but she also has many pleasures, and is constantly aware of the beauty around her. John Wain, in his masterful biography of Samuel Johnson remarks that those of us who live after the Industrial Revolution can only imagine how physically beautiful England was, and Marion appreciates the world she knows. She has a strong attachment to her home village, and its people, even though she is quite clear-sighted about many of their faults. Seeing her year and her home through her eyes was a marvellous experience for me, and I am glad I had the chance.