I really enjoyed the women Hetta Howes chose to portray in this new work of non-fiction. It seems like there have been more books published as of late that detail women during medival times, yet this work has a fresh , narrative approach. The audio book author has a very even-keel tone, inserting appropriate emotion when called for. Personaly, I might have liked to have a physical copy to allow myself to reread passages, but I think anyone who enjoys history and audiobooks will find this a winner!

This examination of the lives and writings of four medieval women was enjoyable, informative, and very well-narrated. While I vaguely remember the names of these women from my very long ago history and literature classes, Hetta Howes re=ignited my interest in learning more about their lives and times. Highly recommended—you won’t regret the time you spend with these women.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I really enjoyed this book. The author is knowledgeable and it is evident that a huge amount of research went into the book, both in terms of explaining about the lives of the four specific women, and the lives of medieval people in general.

Because I was listening to it rather than eye-reading, at first it took me a second to adjust to the stories of the four women being woven together, rather than sort of stacked on top of each other separately. I understand why the author did it, it just made me wish I was eye-reading it, so I could keep track of each woman a little bit easier, but one thing that was clear was that, similar with today’s women… we all may be very different, but so many of us have similar experiences living within a patriarchal society that has certain expectations of us.

I think the woman I sort of related to most was Christine, the writer and pragmatist. Today, of course, we would say, leave him, girl, but back then, you couldn’t really do that stuff, so it doesn’t read quite as feminist to a modern eye. However, I agree that while ideally they would be free, in the reality of the day, the advice Christine gave with the intention of keeping women safe was both feminist and radical.

Overall, of course, the hardest thing was realizing that while yes, divorce is easier, not so much has really changed for women in Europe and the US, and it goes without saying that there are a lot of other countries in which women are much, much more restricted. I did enjoy the author’s note that we might actually learn from and incorporate some ideas from medieval people - I don’t think the average person would expect to hear that!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife. This nonfiction novel gives the reader an insider look into what being a woman was like in the medieval age. Including information about pregnancy, motherhood, marriage, and family life this was an engaging and accessible way to learn about what medieval women had to go through (and shows how much AND how little has changed for women since the medieval age). Special shout out to the audiobook narrator, Amy Nobel- I think I could listen to her read a grocery list and still be entertained. 4 stars (highly recommend to give it a try even if you aren’t typically a nonfiction reader).

Super interesting and engaging look at like for women in this time. And I absolutely learned so much more about this period that disrupted what I thought I already knew. Very well structured to keep it interesting.

I've studied a fair bit of Medieval Era history. It's an interesting time in history, and much of what makes up the modern Western world has roots in this time period. This is also an extremely sexist and oppressive period in history, so finding powerful women is always a worthy endeavor.

The women chosen to be highlighted for this text are solid, interesting, and quite unique for the times they lived in. They are successful rebels, and the intricate dance required for women who defied their prescribed roles did not diminish their power.

Marie de France was the daughter of another powerful woman ruler who defied the place set for her with both of her husbands. In fact, I'm primarily familiar with Marie through the biographies I've read on her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. I was aware she was a poet, as the descendant of Troubadours. How could she be anything less?

Julian of Norwich was probably the least well known to me, though I had heard of her. Christine de Pizan was probably the character with which I was the most familiar with peripherally, simply from my studies on the Armagnac-Burgundian Civil War in France. Margery Kempe, I knew about but in a very outlinish way. She was fascinating and possibly the woman whose story I found the most interesting.

This is easily accessible to casual readers of history, especially those interested in the medieval era and women during that era. This was very well researched and meticulously laid out. I plan to purchase this for my collection on audiobook. It reminded me not in detail or style but in the tone of Gemma Hollman's Royal Witches, which I revisit regularly.

Another recommendation I'd give for this is an immersive reading experience. The narrator of this novel is Amy Noble. Amy does a wonderful job conveying emotion and making these women feel accessible and almost modern. Making this an excellent candidate for reading the text while also listening to the audio. I especially like this method with history texts like this because I retain so much of the information I've read. I find this works best with books that are paced a certain way, and this is perfectly paced. If you're into such experiences.

Thank you to Hetta Howes, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

Approachable or Complex? = Mostly Approachable
This book's is great at defining terms and keeping the language and prose simple for a reader to understand what's going on. Even if you have no experiencing in interacting with women in pre-modern Europe, this book can serve as a good gateway into it.

The only thing that I struggled with is that I really thought we'd go woman by woman in the four women this book wants to talk about but they're all woven in which brings about a complexity in trying to parse out which stories belong to which women.

Narrative Moments or Straight Facts:? = Mostly Narrative Moments
This book aims to take us down the lives of four women: "Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a no-good wife." We are going through their lives as well as the lives of other women. This is a book about women and their lives.

Overviewic or Specific:? = Equally Overviewic and Specific
While this book claims that its about four women, it does cover Kempe and Norwich the most. I couldn't tell you anything about Marie de France that I learned. We also get narratives about other women in this time period and fictional women in books from this time period as well. So it is both specific in that we do get the specific lives of these four women, but it also seeks to give us a general idea about the lives of women in premodern Europe. I would say you'd come out of this book with a very well rounded idea of women in this era.

Definitely Skimmed or Engaging? = Overwhelmingly Engaging.
I've got a religion minor and I focused on Christianity and civil religion and the places where religion and secular society meet and so this book covers the stuff I'm interested in. The moment Anchoresses were brought up I was like here for it. So I stayed engaged the entire time, I nearly read the book in just a single day. This is a book I would read again in hopes of retaining more and new information. Having already taken classes about women in this era I felt this book enhanced that education and I generally had a wonderful time reading.

Do I feel dumb after reading this because I struggled to retain understand that information or did this book make me feel like a more educated person?: I feel smarter after reading this.

Information Retained Off the Top of My Head
- Anchoresses
- Birthing Girdles
- Christ as a mother
- The connection between bleeding Christ and bleeding women
- Margery Kempe constantly crying
- The concept of Virago
- Convents as The Second Option, and women's struggle to carve out a third option.
- Adultery in premodern Europe

Reviewer's Note:
I review nonfiction different than fiction. Each section is on a 5 point scale with each word on opposite sides of the scale. For example, in "Approachable Vs Complex" the scale would go: Overwhelmingly Approachable, Mostly Approachable, Equally Approachable and Complex, Mostly Complex, Overwhelmingly Complex.

One side is not better than the other side because its entirely dependent on the subject matter, the aim of the book, and the intended audience. For example, a quantum mechanics book should be somewhat complex but the historical account of a person should be somewhat approachable.

When we think about the lives of medieval women, we think of the narrow confines of subjugated gender roles and lack of voice and agency. But Hetta Howes shows us the ways in which women were able to break the mold laid out for them by male writers of the era.

She focuses on 4 women: Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a "no-good wife". Howes weaves the words of these women throughout her narrative nonfiction, giving the reader a broader picture of women in the medieval era. All 4 of these women are unique in that they have written historical records left behind centuries later, even in an era where most of our primary source material comes from the writing of men.

As a long time fan of Julian of Norwich, I loved also learning about other women who were either her contemporaries or at least as in eras where culturally women's roles seemed set in stone - or potentially locked in the isolation of 4 walls as an anchoress. There's a unique manner of meditation and reflection that these women achieved through their circumstance (wealth, widowhood, and access to resources other women may not have had), and I loved the way Howes tied them together. There's also a unique mystical thread - as many medieval women found their voices through Christian theology and devotion to God - that gave them all personal strength in the face of adversity.

It's not a full 5 stars for me because I didn't find the central thesis of the book as strong as I would have liked and the conclusion tying the book to modern women was interesting but needed a little more substance for me. That said I highly recommend the book for anyone looking for broad strokes of the life of medieval women and writing about Julian, Marie, Christine, and Margery in particular. (As a side note, Marie is the central character of Lauren Groff's book Matrix.)

A good quick history on the lives of select women in the high and latter middle ages. Women are often overlooked in history, especially in medieval history, and I enjoy any history highlights the lives and stories of women during this time period. The narrator was good and I enjoyed listening to this book.

To call “Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife” a story of the lives of four woman is not unlike calling “Dracula” a biography of the count. It wouldn't be wrong. It also wouldn't begin to describe the vast atmosphere and details about an era that bring a time into our modern minds that both do. Nor would it give credit to all the work Howes does to tie in the key historical figures and world events tangentially related to these women, the inspiration contributing to and the influence later of the women's writing, or the domino effects of each woman's lives on their contemporaries.

While some of this might be recycled information for those more familiar with the era, it is rare that I exit a history book feeling like I've learned such a broad scope of details. I was astounded at how interconnected the countries were beyond known trade. I had no idea about things such as Jewish procession during the plague or when different professions switched a gendered association. I was aware of some birthing traditions but to see how in some regards how very more open minded the Church was at the time compared to modern standards of what we now consider woman's healthcare left me gobsmacked. The suggestions of how other women had their own form of power an autonomy were just as enlightening as those of our focal figures.

As for these women, astounding by any time's standards, it is only thanks to Judy Chicago's “The Dinner Party” that I had even been exposed and had recalled nothing about her. I certainly started tsking English teachers of my past for never enlightening me to the fact there was a woman who contributed to Arthurian legends. Nor did I know that we have a woman to thank as much as the Grimm brothers for the fantastical and stories that were defiant in their romantic views. I was only vaguely aware of the existence of the Anchorite system. The insight into the pilgrimage and personal travel system was absolutely eye opening. Their passion and perseverance will stick with me.

This book walks a winding road in the most eloquent and efficient way a reader can hope for. Where other novels become repetitive in facts, a recycling of information is always specifically used to remind or refocus the reader of an earlier point. When it does happen to meander it is a journey. The mind will wander along the detour enraptured just at the strain of thought it's taking you on. At the end I found myself surprised to realize just how well it ran back to the overarching point being made. If ever I paused my audiobook and went back it was because I was unsure I had understood something correctly not from vague wording but because I wasn't sure I believed what I was hearing. On top of this, with the exception of some speculation in the conclusion, the book is also careful not to pin modern motivations or phraseology in an ancient time.

With its expansive building of the medieval times at all it would be a shame to see if somewhere this is shelved under or assumed just to be a work of women's studies. This is the work of an age not just a collective biography. No matter the reader's particular interests, if world history is one of them, there will be something to enjoy.

This is an extraordinarily interesting and informative book! The narrator is brilliant and clear, and the interpretation of women's experiences seen through the lens of these four women writers provides really profound insight into the Middle Ages. I highly recommend this to readers of history and particularly women's history.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!