Wild by Amy Jeffs

Book Review

I devoured Amy Jeff's’ Storyland and so you can imagine my delight when I found out she was writing another book examining the myth and folklore of Britain, this time focusing on Medieval Britain.

Jeff’s ‘Wild’ delves into the riddles of the Exeter Book and seeks to make sense of them by placing them in the context of the time and the landscape in which they were written linking them to stories that would have been told during that era.

In each chapter there is n original story by Jeffs with echoes of other folktales, myths legends and fables within it. Jeffs then goes on to discuss the threads and motifs within the story, what historical events may have been happening at the time and how she has come to create the narrative she has from the riddle, text or poem recorded by Medieval scribes.

It’s not as accessible as Storyland, but then again it would be hard to beat Jeff’s beautiful debut anthology. However, it is a really thought provoking book and whilst requiring a little more cerebral interaction than your average book of folktales, Jeff’s passion for the era and academic study of these tales shines through making this is an anthology that I will definitely come back to.

You can buy Dr Amy Jeff’s, ‘Wild’, in all good bookshops. If you would like to buy a copy please consider visiting my page on Bookshop.org where I earn a small commission for book recommendations. Here you will find a plethora of myth, legend and folktale. Just use the button below to visit.

Don’t forget to support your local library too and see if they have a copy to borrow.