The Failed Spinner. Excerpt from “Hypatia of Alexandria”

Spinning with a drop spindle is harder than it looks. I found this out the hard way when I was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and picked up a spindle and some wool roving. No matter how much i spun and practiced, I never could get my yarn even enough to weave in a loom. It’s not something everyone can do.

Drop spinning was a skill most women in antiquity had to learn. In this scene from chapter one, my first hand experiences are reflected as Hypatia tries – and fails – at “w...