Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Hild” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Hild

(Light of the World #1)

Nicola Griffith (Goodreads Author)

3.76 · Rating details · 9,507 ratings · 1,795 reviews

Hild is born into a world in transition. In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, usually violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods’ priests are worrying. Edwin of Northumbria plots to become overking of the Angles, ruthlessly using every tool at his disposal: blood, bribery, belief.

Hild is the king’s youngest niece. She has the powerful curio ...more

Get A Copy

Hardcover, 546 pages

Published November 12th 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published January 1st 2013)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Hild, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Historical Fiction 2013

374 books — 2,579 voters

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Awesome Women of the Ancient World

389 books — 913 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.76 ·

Rating details

· 9,507 ratings · 1,795 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Hild

Jan 10, 2014 Paige rated it did not like it

Shelves: stalled-sampled-did-not-finish

So, I've been struggling with Hild: A Novel--or as I think of it, Hild: Nicola Griffith Did Her Research and She Really, Really Wants You to Know It--for almost a month now. I am only halfway through the thing. I've been thinking the whole time that, gosh, there are probably people who would love this book and devour it and celebrate its own unique intricacies, and how unfortunate it is that I am not even close to being one of those people. I do really love some things about the book--the politi So, I've been struggling with Hild: A Novel--or as I think of it, Hild: Nicola Griffith Did Her Research and She Really, Really Wants You to Know It--for almost a month now. I am only halfway through the thing. I've been thinking the whole time that, gosh, there are probably people who would love this book and devour it and celebrate its own unique intricacies, and how unfortunate it is that I am not even close to being one of those people. I do really love some things about the book--the political intrigue, the interesting and fascinating characters, and Hild's experiences most of all. At the same time, I would rather do just about anything than read it. I was finding any excuse to put it down, from doing my homework to taking out the trash to really tedious stuff like renaming files on my computer. Usually I read to try and avoid doing that stuff, which should tell you something about how Hild landed with me. The actual reading of it was pretty much not at all enjoyable.

To give you a taste, here is a random sample: "Two days latter, sitting in the meddaeg sun in the ruins of Broac, Brocavum that was, Cian was still lost in tales of Yr Hen Ogledd, this time of Ceneu and Gorbanian, the sons of Coel Hen, as told by Uinniau, Rhoedd's younger sister-son, who had ridden with them to the remains of the fort."

The whole thing is basically like that. There is so much detail but it's the wrong kind of detail for me. There seem to be lots of these types of sentences whose ostensible goal is to build some kind of authentic atmosphere, but so far they've all been dead ends; they're just window dressing. The way I read books is that I assume that what the author is saying is, you know, somehow significant to the story. You drop Broac, Brocavum, Yr Hen Ogledd, Unniau, Rhoedd and their younger sister-son, Coel Hen and his sons, Gorbanian and Ceneu on me all in one sentence, I am going to try to commit all that to memory because it could be important later. But it's not--at least it has not been so far. It doesn't matter if you know who Rhoedd is--so why mention Rhoedd and the younger sister-son and Broac-or-was-that-Brocavum at all? Meanwhile Hild's story itself jumps along without enough character development or information about her daily and/or inner life for my tastes. It is actually really really frustrating, because I am interested in what Breguswith is up to, and I care about Hild and her sister and her friends and her ~~wyrd~~ (it means FATE). But I can't read about the captivating Hild when Ms. Griffith is so aggressively pushing the "...half a mile from the tideland estuary full of oysters and mussels rounding into Streanaeshalch, the Bay of the Beacon, with its harbor that saw trade from Pictland and the North British, from Lindsey and the East Angles, and even the people of the North Way, whose narrow ships brought [blah blah blah]..." angle instead. She almost always sacrifices character development to this sort of super detailed history lesson (and I was at one point a history major, just so we're clear that I do actually appreciate history). Yes, it is thoroughly researched; I can't tell if Griffith was so enthralled by what she learned that she thought all her readers would be too, or if she was bored to resentful tears and wanted to inflict some of her suffering on us. So my eyes just end up glazing over and I'm like, "hey, I think there might be some grout in the other room that I can get on my hands and knees and scrub..." or, "you know what, there are some bills I need to pay," or perhaps my least favorite chore of them all: "time go buy ingredients at Costco." It was that bad, you guys. Ideally I would still like to finish it...eventually...but it's time to move on to something else for now. ...more

flag 269 likes · Like · see review

Nov 19, 2013 Robin Sloan rated it it was amazing

It's been a long time since I was so happy reading a book this fat, and even longer since I was so sad to see it end. But! -- it took a gloriously long time to get there. HILD is a thick one. You get to the point where you're swimming in the world of the book, just totally entranced, drunk on story and language, and you think: given everything that's happened so far -- whole lives unfurled -- this must be coming to a close. But no: feel the pages beneath your fingers. You're not even halfway thr ...more

flag 96 likes · Like · see review

Jul 07, 2013 Patricia Bracewell rated it it was amazing

Griffith's writing is gorgeous. There is an immediacy and specificity in her descriptions of the 7th century Anglo-Saxon world that completely immerse the reader in that unfamiliar time and place. She uses language like a magic wand, although the world she creates in this novel is anything but romantic -- it is hard and cold and dangerous; life is peripatetic; 'home' is a concept rather than a place; days revolve around the laborious tasks that keep a people alive, and years around the seasons o ...more

flag 90 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2013 Judy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 21st-century-fiction, feminist, historical-fiction

I have spent the last four days in seventh century Britain so fully engrossed in its brutal and beautiful world that sitting down at my computer feels like I have come back to the future.

Saint Hilda of Whitby, daughter of a Northumbrian prince, grew up to become an Abbess, a trainer of bishops for the growing Christian church in Britain, and a consultant to kings and princes, but except for a brief mention in The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede, aka the Father of English His

I have spent the last four days in seventh century Britain so fully engrossed in its brutal and beautiful world that sitting down at my computer feels like I have come back to the future.

Saint Hilda of Whitby, daughter of a Northumbrian prince, grew up to become an Abbess, a trainer of bishops for the growing Christian church in Britain, and a consultant to kings and princes, but except for a brief mention in The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede, aka the Father of English History, the details of her early life are scant.

Nicola Griffith, award-winning author of science fiction and mystery novels, grew up in Yorkshire, on the coast of Great Britain, formerly part of Northumbria. In 2008 she set out to write a historical novel based there. She now lives in Seattle but says, "I'm the product of two thousand years of history." She has been visiting Whitby at least once a year for about 30 years and researching the time period corresponding to Hild's first twenty years for over a decade. The result is her fictional creation of what might have been the young life of Hild.

Like many dedicated readers of fiction, I have long been fascinated by the legend of King Arthur. It wasn't until I read The Mists of Avalon in 1988 that I realized what I wanted to know about was the transition from the old pagan mysteries to the Roman religion based on Jesus Christ. At least in the Western world, it was an insidious transformation from a more balanced male/female culture to the partriarchal template under which we still live.

Hild, who lived a century after Arthur, was born a "pagan" under the Anglo-Saxon deity Woden yet became a Christian saint. Her mother called her "the light of the world." In Nicola Griffith's imagination she becomes a girl of preternatural intelligence, strong willed, observant, able to see the patterns in natural life and in human relations both personal and political.

She is one of those characters balanced on the bleeding edge between the male and female principles, between knowledge and intuition. She learns to read, she is brave, knows how to wield a knife, and does not shrink from violence. Yet she loves both men and women with a full heart. She is pushed into the role of the King's seer by her wily and ambitious mother and uses that position to keep those she loves safe in a treacherous and bloodthirsty world.

How could I not become completely entangled with her fate? She holds her own amongst many of my favorite heroes and heroines: from Ayla of Clan of the Cave Bear to Morgaine of The Mists of Avalon to Thomas Cromwell of Wolf Hall to Killashandra Ree of The Crystal Singer Trilogy and many more.

A word to the skeptical: The book is long. It moves at the pace of Medieval life, with the seasons and long periods of daily drudgery broken by feasting and sudden outbursts of war. It vacillates between the contemplative inner life of Hild and her feats of strength. Like most courts in these locations, they move from place to place on a regular basis and these locations, as well as the characters, are named in the Old English style, which can become confusing. A list of characters, a glossary and old maps are helpful.

But as expected from a speculative fiction writer, Nicola Griffith is a master of world building and she employs her vast research only in service of the story. Her writing is poetic and tuneful, like lyrics to a song. Either one likes this sort of thing or one doesn't and the author does not hold your hand. You must work for your reading pleasure just as the characters must work everyday to ensure their survival, but it is all leavened with wry humor, sex, and plenty of beer and mead. ...more

flag 70 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2013 Julie Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: british-isles-theme-setting, read-2014, historical-fiction

I don't know when I last waffled so much considering how to rate and review a novel. I'm opting on the high side because Nicola Griffith writes with such confidence and because I believe that ardent fans of speculative historical fiction have every reason to be crazy in love with this book.

This reader got bogged down in highly-and-repetitively-detailed world building and the army of characters with impossible names and a plot that lurched from battle to battle for reasons that I simply gave up I don't know when I last waffled so much considering how to rate and review a novel. I'm opting on the high side because Nicola Griffith writes with such confidence and because I believe that ardent fans of speculative historical fiction have every reason to be crazy in love with this book.

This reader got bogged down in highly-and-repetitively-detailed world building and the army of characters with impossible names and a plot that lurched from battle to battle for reasons that I simply gave up trying to follow and just enjoyed the scenery (Northumbria). I will stamp my feet with annoyance over an ending that totally petered out, but I realized about two-thirds of the way in that we were, in fact, witnessing only the early slice of Hild's life: her childhood and early teens. I'm guessing Nicola Griffith is planning another rich, thick, layer-cake of a novel to bring us at least through the transformation of Hild, the preternaturally-wise mystic, to Hilda of Whitby, Christian and eventual saint.

My three older brothers were avid fans of Dungeons and Dragons back in the day (late 70s) and I was allowed to play. Of course, I never got to be Dungeon Master--my oldest brother controlled the Player's Manual, DM guide and Monster Manual and the all-important sets of incomprehensible dice--but I was thrilled as only nine-year-old can be to play with the big kids, creating my character, learning her abilities and racking up experience points with my mace or sword. Hours upon hours were spent lost in a world of magic and intrigue.

I had to let that kid resurface to fully appreciate Hild. I played along, skimmed over the boring bits, stopped trying to make sense of names that appeared once or twice, then were swept away as the king's entourage moved on to the next manor, and relaxed into whatever intrigue was in motion at the moment.

The recorded history of seventh century Britain is hazy enough and wrapped in a world of Tolkienesque imagination that a writer can maximize themes of mysticism and chivalry; we're only a couple hundred years past King Arthur, after all. But don't look for "Game of Thrones" humor or breezy writing--Hild takes itself very seriously and Griffith's prose is formidable. Do settle in and be swept away to the Early Middle Ages. If you are a fan of historical fiction set in medieval Europe, you will be immensely, deeply satisfied by Hild. If you aren't, well, I'm not sure that you'd pick up this book in the first place, but if you do, grab a flagon of mead, loosen your breeches, set your sword to the side and keep your wits about you. It's going to be a long night. ...more

flag 61 likes · Like · see review

Mar 28, 2017 Amalia Gkavea added it · review of another edition

Shelves: never-finished, historical-fantasy, historical-fiction, british-literature

That's it! I admit defeat! I never thought I'd abandon a book with this subject matter, but there is a distinctive line between a well-researched historical novel and one that is full of words without meaning, less-than- zero action, flat characters and dialogues that repeat the same things over and over again. I've been struggling with this for about a month, each time I attempted to continue with my reading I felt as if I was preparing to climb Mount Everest. At least, that would have been rew ...more

flag 51 likes · Like · see review

Jul 25, 2013 Tanja Berg rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, pearl-ruled

Given up at page 150. I do not care what happens to any of the characters, there is almost no forward tension and the historical details in themselves are not enough. I strongly suspect that if I bothered to struggle through the rest, I would hate it even though I desperately want to like it. So I won't. Goodbye and good luck Hild. I hope you were more interesting in real life. ...more

flag 30 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2013 Wealhtheow rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical, queer-characters

Before she was even born, Hild's mother prophesied that she would be "the light of the world." Hild turned out not to be the boy her parents expected, but her mother trains her to become an important figure nevertheless. As a child, Hild's sharp mind merits her a reputation as a seer and inclusion in her uncle, King Edwin's, household. Through observation, curiosity, and never-ceasing reflection, Hild's mind continues to expand amidst never ending political (and physical) battles.

Every moment f Before she was even born, Hild's mother prophesied that she would be "the light of the world." Hild turned out not to be the boy her parents expected, but her mother trains her to become an important figure nevertheless. As a child, Hild's sharp mind merits her a reputation as a seer and inclusion in her uncle, King Edwin's, household. Through observation, curiosity, and never-ceasing reflection, Hild's mind continues to expand amidst never ending political (and physical) battles.

Every moment felt authentic. Hild's society is as real and lived-in as our own. Griffith has done a truly prodigious amount of research to create this utterly believable window into the past, but she doesn't dump information onto the reader, or use it simply as window-dressing. The characters feel that gods and spirits are close and might intervene at any time--they're confused by Christ, who doesn't seem to get drunk or make jokes or be involved in any of the daily labor and war that make up their lives. Literacy is a game-changer, but one that takes a while to make its influence known. Matters of the body, like sex or urination, aren't private in the same way they are today. Family connections and webs of relationships are of huge importance. Foreignness and class status are marked in their own, distinctly medieval, ways. All of this is conveyed on the sly, so that the reader doesn't quite realize how much they've learned about Hild's world until its over. I loved the way Griffith wove in trade routes, weather patterns, and all manner of other considerations into her tale, without ever losing focus.

Hild is based on Saint Hilda of Whitby, but so little is known about her that Griffith is free to invent a great deal to explain how she went from fatherless noble lady to esteemed Christian abbess. I loved much of her inventions. I've seen other reviews question the gemæcca concept--the formal pairing of two women, in the same sense as a lady and her lady-in-waiting. It's true that I haven't seen it described elsewhere, but then, women's life is so rarely described in extant sources that invention of some kind is necessary. Too, the concept fits with the society as another strand in the peace-weaving web; seventh century Britain had all sorts of oath-based relationships that involved men, so why not one for women? Other readers question whether sex between women would have been accepted the way it is in Hild, but A)this is pre-Christianity, and B)early Christianity wasn't all that down on sex between women anyway. These creations, like Griffith's other choices in the novel, didn't startle me or seem strange in the least; she fits them in well with the rest of the narrative. One invention only bothered me: (view spoiler)

That aside, I absolutely loved this book. The language is beautiful, without a wasted word or awkward phrase. Every single image comes into play somehow; every experience shapes Hild or informs our understanding of her world. Hild is so present, so utterly real, from the unstated loneliness of her early childhood (never more poignant than when she threatens a priest to get him to teach her sister to read, so she can maintain a connection with one of her sole relatives even across great distances) to her slow awakening sexuality (ahh that scene with the milk!) to her coming to terms with ruthlessness against the bandits of Elmet. In her, and in all the characters who oppose, help, and surround her, Griffith has created something truly special and uniquely human. The ending bothered me, because it felt like I'd been in the middle of a stream and then abruptly was plucked out of it. To strain the metaphor further, I expected a waterfall, or to end in a peaceful pond, but instead the stream--er, narration, just stops. I hear that Griffith is working on a sequel to this novel, which explains why we leave Hild when she is still a young adult, still nowhere near founding any abbeys or becoming a saint. ...more

flag 24 likes · Like · see review

Jul 19, 2013 Lauren rated it it was ok

I was underwhelmed by this. I was reading an ARC so I didn't have the author's note or maps, so perhaps I was at a disadvantage but I don't know why Griffths' novel stopped before Hilda's transformation to the abbess of one of the most notable monastic houses of the early medieval period. The novel felt very hodgepodged to me - lots of research,a modern sensibility and an ending that I didn't believe.

It's also a complex time of warring factions, tribes, and religious tensions and there is simpl ...more

flag 22 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2014 Liz rated it it was ok

This book is driving me nuts, because parts of it are so wonderful and parts are utterly infuriating.

My objections are similar to the ones appearing in other reviews. Yes, it is meticulously researched, and paints a very real-seeming picture of daily life for women in the time period. I often felt very immersed in the world of the book. Yes, Hild the character is awesome and brilliant and genre-convention-breaking.

But this book meanders, and it does a very poor job of explaining just what the he ...more

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2014 Jennifer (aka EM) rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone who loves Mantel's Wolf Hall/BUTB; middle-agers

Recommended to Jennifer (aka EM) by: Simon

Shelves: for-the-desert-island

Historical fiction (but is it?) about a lonely, violent, spookily-intuitive, pagan (tho’ converted), lesbian (Griffith says she’s actually bi) saint-to-be and her manipulative, astonishing mother, written as though it was speculative fiction.

If you think there’s a lot to unpack in that first sentence, you ain’t read Hild yet.

Politics, war, and the very early Christian conversion attempts by Roman priests in 7th Century Britain.

Women. Spinning, weaving, plotting, planning, making the world go ' ...more

flag 19 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2013 Simon rated it it was amazing

"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." (Faulkner)

"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." (L.P.Hartley)

These two quotes, pulling against each other, capture something immensely important between them. I'm always fascinated in historical fiction to see how authors deal with this. How do they give a sense that they're not writing about "us in fancy dress, with our mouths full of... prithees and zounds," (as J.L. Carr puts it), but still do justice to the fact that we ...more

flag 19 likes · Like · see review

Mar 22, 2018 Samantha Shannon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lgbtq-protagonist, tall-female-protagonist, womens-history, irish-and-uk-adult, historical, sapphic, magical-realism

I'm a fast reader, and usually it wouldn't take me more than a few days to fly through a book the size of Hild – yet it ended up taking me weeks to finish. Not because there was anything wrong with it, but because (a) I had to keep putting it down so I could absorb what I was reading, and (b) it was so immersive, I needed to be able to set aside a few hours each time I opened it so I could sink in without being disturbed.

Hild is slow-pouring honey. It is rich with detail, gradual in its movemen ...more

flag 21 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2013 Terry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, that-northern-thing, re-reading

2020 re-read: There's not much I can add to my original review below aside to say that this is still a great book, and has definitely made it to the re-read list. I only wish I could expect the sequel to be out sooner than currently projected!

Original review:
The bottom line is that this was a wonderfully engrossing read and I can’t give it less than 5 stars. Time will tell if it becomes a perennial favourite added to the re-read queue (though it likely will), but regardless of this it was a fant 2020 re-read: There's not much I can add to my original review below aside to say that this is still a great book, and has definitely made it to the re-read list. I only wish I could expect the sequel to be out sooner than currently projected!

Original review:
The bottom line is that this was a wonderfully engrossing read and I can’t give it less than 5 stars. Time will tell if it becomes a perennial favourite added to the re-read queue (though it likely will), but regardless of this it was a fantastic example of how to do an excellent work of historical fiction...or just fiction period. It was a long-ish book at 546 pages, but I found myself feeling that I could have read another 500 pages in Hild’s life and am therefore eagerly anticipating the proposed sequel(s). Perhaps that alone says it all (especially given that I don’t always have a great track record with long books unless they really capture my imagination).

The story takes place in 7th century England (or pre-England as this is the era when the Anglo-Saxons, or Anglisc as Griffith has it, were beginning to establish their kingdoms which would, one day, become the united kingdom of England). Now, however, we have many rival cultural groups: from the Anglisc who have moved from invaders to overlords of several competing kingdoms, the Britons of Celtic descent native to the island and still holding out in a few independent domains, to the Celtic Irish who have their own designs on the Isle of Britain. The centre of the tale from a historical context is the rise of the Yffing clan under the overlordship of Edwin who would come to consolidate the tribal lands of Deira and Bernicia into the kingdom of Northumbria with designs on becoming the King of all the English. Our central character, however, is the titular Hild, the daughter of Edwin’s nephew Hereric, a previous contender for Edwin’s throne who died under mysterious circumstances while in exile (a not uncommon situation for many of these ‘athelings’, or royal candidates, in the period).

One would imagine that the position of the daughter of a slaughtered rival would have made Hild’s continued existence precarious with the rising Edwin. Thankfully for Hild her mother Breguswith was a woman of great ability and foresight. Through careful cultivation of the mystique surrounding her purported ‘vision’ of the then-unborn Hild as “the light of the world”, in tandem with her careful planning and political manoeuvering, Breguswith manages to secure a place for herself and her children in the household of the newly installed king Edwin. Thankfully for Breguswith her daughter is precocious from a young age and able to pick up quickly on the lessons of her wily mother and we come to see how an intelligent and perceptive young girl who pays close attention to all that goes on around her, when paired with a sly (or some might even say conniving) mother willing to pull any necessary strings, can fairly easily find herself considered a seer of remarkable powers. Of course a good dose of luck at the right time doesn’t hurt either.

Hild as depicted by Griffith is a fascinating character. Her most obvious trait being her perceptiveness, her ability to be still and observe what goes on in the world around her, whether it be the natural changes of the seasons and the signs of weather, flora, and fauna that she can use to her advantage, or the cues that those around her drop as to their desires and intentions of which they are not even aware. If I may take a short digression into nerd-dom I would say that she is almost like a toned-down Bene Gesserit from Frank Herbert’s Dune (fitting perhaps given that some in the book call her haegtes or witch) reading the subtle cues of human nature and drawing from them astute inferences and conclusions. This ability to observe implies that Hild is often living at the edge of things looking in from the outside and in many ways, especially given her growing reputation as seer to the king, this separation from others comes to define her. The role of seer may bring with it a certain prestige, and even a tenuous safety in the politically uncertain world of Edwin’s court, but it is a double-edged sword that also brings with it a separation from others. As a result Hild gathers around herself many admirers and devotees (in addition to rivals and outright enemies), but relatively few friends. Most see her as “…not human, more like a wall, a tide, the waxing of the moon. A force of nature. Implacable, untouchable.”

It is not only Hild who fascinates however, and Griffith does an excellent job with all of her characters. Hild’s mother Breguswith stands out for me in particular as an intriguing picture of a strong and capable woman, nearly as perceptive as her daughter and paired with a ruthless cunning that never quite borders on evil, but always makes us wonder about where she stands in any given situation. Cian, the half-British (or wealh the Anglo-Saxon term for any ‘foreigner’ or non-Anglisc person which eventually became the term ‘Welsh’ as applied to the people of Wales) foster-brother with whom Hild shares her childhood and who dreams of nothing so much as being a great warrior, but who carries his own secret without even knowing it and acts as on of the seers most constant anchors to the 'merely' human world. There are far too many to cover in detail, but I found all of the characters in the book, no matter how minor, interesting and well-rounded, from Cian’s hard-headed but loving mother Onnen, and even Begu the seemingly simple-minded though often perceptive childhood friend of Hild, to Paulinus the grasping and clever Christian Bishop seeking power and influence, and Edwin himself an often hard and harsh ruler, though not without intelligence and the perceptiveness to use a soft hand when he needs to.

So, Griffith has a deft hand with characters; how was the story? All I can say is that I felt fully immersed in the Anglo-Saxon world of 7th century Britain without being overwhelmed by the details. It is definitely true that Griffith peppers her book with many particulars about the daily life and manners of the time, but I for one never felt that these were misplaced or slowed down the story. Rather I felt that they were integrated quite naturally into the tale and helped to build the verisimilitude I want, and expect, when I visit a time and place not our own. (It is also possible that my own personal interest in, and knowledge of, the cultural milieu helped in this regard.) We thus follow Hild as she navigates the sometimes tumultuous world of Anglo-Saxon politics at a time when not only was Edwin trying to consolidate political power, but the new religion of Christianity was beginning to push out the old ways and gods and an added complexity of power and influence was brought into the mix. Amidst these ‘high matters’ Hild tries to grasp something purely human that can anchor her to the day-to-day world of her people; thus she does her best to nurture those friendships that can be formed for one marked out as a member of the political, and sometimes spiritual, elite.

Women are definitely front and centre in the novel and display their various strengths, and weaknesses, in all levels of society. For those to whom it matters Griffith is also something of an iconoclast, portraying her heroine, who would eventually become an abbess and saint, as a bi-sexual woman perhaps more pragmatic than she is spiritual, though she is not without a certain idealism. All in all this was a great read and I highly recommend it to lovers of historical fiction, especially of the Anglo-Saxon era. ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2013 Melody rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Kate Sutherland

Hild is a book I've been looking forward to with unalloyed anticipation, ever since Griffith mentioned it on her blog a long time ago. I was thrilled to get an early NetGalley copy to read. And then, for awhile, I was floundering. It's a huge story, populated with a great many characters, many of whom have similar names. Or if not similar, equally unfamiliar to the modern ear. There were a lot of words to puzzle out contextual meanings of (as the glossary in the e-Galley was too complicated to k ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Jun 06, 2013 Wanda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fantasy, brit-lit, read-in-2013, favourites, bechdel-test, fantasy, female-authors

"Hild is born into a world in transition. In seventh-century Britain, small kingdoms are merging, usually violently. A new religion is coming ashore; the old gods’ priests are worrying. Edwin of Northumbria plots to become overking of the Angles, ruthlessly using every tool at his disposal: blood, bribery, belief."

If you are interested in historical fiction at all, read this book.

It is gorgeously written, set in Medieval England, covering the "history" of a powerful woman, St. Hilda of Whitby. T ...more

flag 13 likes · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2014 Althea Ann rated it it was amazing

A truly excellent book.
I’ve read everything by Nicola Griffith, so I’ve been looking forward to this release with quite a lot of anticipation. I have to say, the book isn’t really what I expected. However, neither was it disappointing – not even close!
While Griffith’s previous work has been (excellent) science fiction and crime fiction, usually with a tense, quick-moving plot, ‘Hild’ is straight historical fiction. While there’s plenty of violence, the pace of the book is slow and deliberate, a ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Dec 25, 2014 Justin Robinson rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

Did not finish. Threw in the towel on page 124 after another scene of farm chores and conversations about Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Book.

I wanted to like this one. I really did. Orphaned noble attempts to navigate tricky politics she only barely understands in Dark Ages Britain? And it's all historical? Sounds incredible. Unfortunately, the reality is ridiculously dull and cluttered with pointless detail and irrelevant names.

Reading Hild is a lot like being cornered at a party by someone who has ...more

flag 11 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2014 Mauoijenn rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014-rc, dying-dead-death, historical-fiction

I'm gonna be honest... I normally don't read to many of these books that fit into the historical fiction genre. Its just usually not my thing unless something grabs my attention in the story line. What grabbed me with this one, you ask? THE COVER!!

I mean look at it. Its gorgeous. A nice teal/turquoise blue and that picture of Hild on the front, very nice indeed. Now this is a nice fat chunky book, but I gotta say I was very impressed. It kind of took me a chapter or two to get into the story but ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Nov 12, 2013 Dawn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, historical-fiction, authors-women, read-2013

This is a beautiful, meandering story of the imagined childhood of Saint Hild of Whitby.

Set in a time when Christianity was replacing the old Pagan religions with the help of the political machinations of the British royalty, the pace of the story lets you get immersed in the life and times of the powerful of 8th century Britain.

I loved this story. The characters were fascinating, even those with small parts to play are not left to be cardboard cutouts but are given life and personality. The s ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

May 24, 2014 Tim Hicks rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventure

Nebula Award nominee, and it's not really either SF or F.
Often frustrating, but still a masterful piece of work.

He sat down to write a review. His hand fell to the grip of his seax. He looked out at the late-spring trees, where the blossoming pogarups heralded a good beef crop and cheerful chickadicks with their "twee-twee" indicated a probable rise in barometric pressure over the next week, with impact on the Baltic shrimp harvest, which worried him because with all the boats out shrimping i ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

May 05, 2016 Athena rated it liked it

Recommends it for: patient readers

Shelves: female-lead, historical-fiction, strong-women

2-3 stars for historians, professional or avocational
4 stars for everyone else
-------
I read this a few years ago so very briefly the things that stuck with me:
- It's a terrific book, I enjoyed it but left it not wanting to read the next one or possibly anything else Griffith had written.
- Griffith did massive research on the era and that's what lodged in my head after a few pages, stayed there and lingered. This is a very dense read, I kept feeling that I should be organizing my note cards for i ...more

flag 10 likes · Like · see review

Jan 06, 2020 Ann-Marie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I so did not want this book to end. Even though I knew it was completely made up, with hardly a morsel of truth in it, I adored it.
"Hild" is Nicola Griffiths imagining of the first part of the life of St. Hilda, a Seventh Century convert to Christianity and an early saint. She was said to have been King Edwin's seer, and in Griffith's telling, she is a precocious, gifted observer of people and extremely talented at pattern recognition, which would go a long way toward explaining her gifts.
I a ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Jun 09, 2020 Lauren Stoolfire rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction

Hold by Nicola Griffith is an absolute must read for those interested in immersive historical fiction based on real life figures with fantastic world building. If you enjoyed Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel or medieval fantasy. I'm so glad that family trees and a pronunciation guide are included. I'm also glad that my meager Welsh language studies on Duolingo somewhat prepared me for some of the language and words used in this novel. I bet it would be a real treat to hear this on audiobook. ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 30, 2014 G.G. rated it really liked it

Shelves: 21st-century-novels

One reason we read is to be transported to another mind, place, time. At its best, Hild is completely transporting. Griffith excels at descriptions of the natural world:

As the mist began to dissolve she could see the dark, wet beach. Long-legged birds speared shellfish, and women with sacks collected coal and driftwood, dodging the surf that ran up over the sand like the froth in a milkmaid’s pail. The sky showed as blue as twice-dyed linen. The sea was restless, glinting like napped flint. It,

One reason we read is to be transported to another mind, place, time. At its best, Hild is completely transporting. Griffith excels at descriptions of the natural world:

As the mist began to dissolve she could see the dark, wet beach. Long-legged birds speared shellfish, and women with sacks collected coal and driftwood, dodging the surf that ran up over the sand like the froth in a milkmaid’s pail. The sky showed as blue as twice-dyed linen. The sea was restless, glinting like napped flint. It, too, would turn blue if the sky stayed clear. (p. 83)

An owl, noiseless as a feathered cloud, glided away in the moonlight, a songbird in its left foot. (p. 306)

For me, these were the most convincing moments in the novel. One feels that the author has seen what she describes and found exactly the right words to convey that experience in language.

The moment Hild first hears Christian music and is converted (or so I understood) to the new religion is also brilliantly evoked:

The music, when it came, with a rush, a gush of voice seeking its note, ripped away her indifference and tore through her as sudden and shocking as snowmelt.
She forgot the floor. Forgot the queen. She felt hot, then cold, then nothing at all, like a bubble rising through water, then floating, then lifting free.
It was cool music, inhuman, the song stars might sing. Endless, pouring, pure. Were it water, it would turn any bird that drank it white. (p. 198)

My ignorance of seventh-century Britain is total—first there was Egypt, then Greece, then Rome; after the Romans left Britain there was the Norman Conquest; I don’t remember learning anything more than that the era of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes came in between. Griffith’s imaginative inhabiting of this period is another aspect of the novel that convinces. The court shifting from place to place, following the seasons; the three-day gales, during which men "pissed in corners...vomited and came back for more mead" (p. 307); the winter hunger (“teeth loosened, belts tightened, tempers frayed” p. 317). Here is her description of some of the work women did:

It was a constant, endless river of work just to make the clothes for a household—cloaks and tunics, shirts and hose, veils and dresses and underdresses and hoods and caps—in addition to blankets, wall hangings, bandages, sacks, saddle cloths, wipes, shrouds, breech cloths. And now [Hild’s mother] Breguswith wanted enough fine wool…to weave cloaks of the size, quality, and quantity to trade for precious goods from the Franks: jessamine, myrrh, poppy paste, garnets, gold, walnut and olive oil, silk. (pp. 383-84)

Enjoined to have a “quiet mouth, bright mind,” such are Hild’s powers of observation—of both the natural world, and the human—that she understands what others do not, and thus is valued as a seer. She must watch out for “rivalry, the disease of kings,” “righteous anger, the disease of bishops,” and “the stink of fear, the disease of seers.” (p. 340)

The only aspect of the novel that did not ring true for me was Hild’s desire for her childhood playmate and half-brother Cian (an invented, not an historical character.) My sense is that sexual attraction requires strangeness, and that it is impossible for people who played together like fox kittens as children to feel desire for one another after they grow up. But the jury still seems to be out on this, the so-called “Westermarck effect” (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerm...), so perhaps I am wrong. And of course Hild is a novel, not an anthropological treatise, and the author is entitled to fictionalize as she sees fit.

I certainly look forward to reading the next volume in Griffith’s planned trilogy about how Hild, who grows to young womanhood in this novel, eventually becomes Saint Hilda of Whitby. ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Sep 11, 2013 Stefan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: advance-reading-copy, ebook, historical-fiction, netgalley

Many other reviews of Nicola Griffith’s stunning new novel Hild will be written by people who have a much deeper understanding of its historical period, its main character, and the author’s previous works. Sadly, I am a blank slate when it comes to all three: prior to reading Hild, I had very little knowledge of Seventh Century England or St. Hilda of Whitby, and (to my great shame) Hild is the first novel I’ve read by Griffith.

I’m starting this review with that information because I believe man ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 02, 2013 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, fiction_non_genre, wwe-women-of-genre-fiction

This is a magnificent book. I have a habit of sometimes reading to finish a book, rather than reading to experience it. I lived this novel, the grit and the grime as well as the glamour. It is a lush imagining, an act of deft, from-the-ground-up worldbuilding. I love how everyone has things to do, whether they are men, women, nobles, farmhands: there are herbs to collect, sheep to shear, cows to be milked, people to be healed, cloths to be woven. I love that the women have purpose and agency, an ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Jun 06, 2015 Sharman Russell rated it it was amazing

A description of the main character Hild worrying about all she has to worry about--which is quite a bit: "On and on...like a cat licking her mind." Writing like this made me really love this book. It's a tour de force of seventh century Anglo-Saxon England, and you don't find too many of those. This is a gift to the reading world. Yes, okay, sometimes I found myself skimming just a bit (I do that, a bad habit, and this is a long book) and I also didn't always bother keeping track of all the nam ...more

flag 8 likes · Like · see review

Nov 14, 2013 Ashley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lit-fic, lgbtqia, anglophilia, historical-fiction, political-plots-and-maneuverings, bildungsroman, class-gender-race, unfinished-series, you-wrote-about-what-now, what-s-this-art-thing-all-about-yo

Was sort of uninterested in this book, until I read this blog post by the author. Boom! Sudden interest, give it to me now. And I’m really glad I picked it up. My experience with Hild is the textbook example of why it’s a good idea to read outside your normal genres every once in a while. I don’t read very much historical fiction, and those I do read are usually the ones that have some sort of unusual hook, like TWO SOLDIERS IN WWII RUSSIA LOOK FOR A DOZEN EGGS FOR A WEDDING CAKE! (City of Thiev Was sort of uninterested in this book, until I read this blog post by the author. Boom! Sudden interest, give it to me now. And I’m really glad I picked it up. My experience with Hild is the textbook example of why it’s a good idea to read outside your normal genres every once in a while. I don’t read very much historical fiction, and those I do read are usually the ones that have some sort of unusual hook, like TWO SOLDIERS IN WWII RUSSIA LOOK FOR A DOZEN EGGS FOR A WEDDING CAKE! (City of Thieves) or WOMAN TIME TRAVELS TO SCOTLAND AND HAS LOTS OF SEX! (Outlander). In comparison, Hild is rather tame, and MUCH more in depth.

Hild is Nicola Griffith’s examination of the early years of St. Hilda of Whitby, about whom almost nothing is known, except that she was probably one of the most influential women who ever lived. (Really, you should click that link at the top — it’s very interesting.) Griffith became obsessed with St. Hilda after visiting the ruined abbey where St. Hilda once lived, did a shit-ton of research into the middle ages and how women lived, and then decided to write this book. And her decision to not ignore the realities of women’s lives back then, which mostly featured around raising children and weaving, was a brave one. I mean, women did nothing back then, how could a book like that possibly be interesting?

It helps that our protagonist is not just any woman, but the niece of the King, and daughter of the man who should have been king, had he not been poisoned. And that Hild’s mother prophesied before she was even born that she would be “the light of the world,” a prophecy that her mother works hard to make come true, and which Hild herself fulfills not by any mystical means, but by being observant and clever and using common sense. She becomes the King’s seer, predicting events and advising him before she even has her first period. She is instrumental, in Griffith’s version of the story, in shaping her world even as young as the age of seven.

The book follows her from the age of three, when she learns her father has died and has to immediately seek the succor of his brother (who probably was the one who had him killed) for protection, all the while fearing he might see them as a threat. Due to her precarious position, she also seeks to learn how to defend herself with the help of her half-brother Cian (a character Griffith created), a gesith (knight) in the King’s court. Cian’s position is similarly precarious. He believes he is the bastard son of one king, Ceredig, a lie his mother and Hild’s mother let him believe to protect him. If Edwin King knew Cian was really the son of his late brother, he would likely see him as a threat and have him killed. As a result, Cian and Hild’s relationship becomes rather complicated. Anyway, he teaches her to wield a staff, and to properly fight with her seax (a gift from another King), because it was expressly forbidden for women to learn to fight with a sword. So Hild held a position few men, let alone women, ever held: king’s advisor, seer, warrior, landowner, with the freedom to speak as she pleased to men of authority.

God, there’s so much in this book I still want to talk about. How Griffith treats class, and the intermingling of the different races (Wealh (British), Anglo-Saxon, Franks, etc.). How Hild, a speaker of multiple languages, acts as a bridge for all these different peoples. How the whole book is a sneaky exploration of how the coming of Christianity to Britain changed the political and cultural landscape. The way she treats gender and sexuality (which was much more fluid back then, before the coming of Christianity). How she works all of this subtly into a book-long metaphor about women and weaving and family and friendship, and knitting things together. UGH SO GOOD.

This is a long book, but it’s worth it for the feeling you have almost immediately that you’re the one who’s time-traveled, back to the 7th century in England, before England was even a thing. It’s almost unbelievable how Nicola Griffith is able to create such an intense, detailed world inhabited by real people out of the bare scraps of historical record, but then again, I suppose a science fiction author is inherently suited to this kind of work — worldbuilding is kind of in the job description. This time, the world she’s created just so happens to have once been real. This book probably isn’t for readers who demand lots of fast-paced action and plot. It’s a leisurely one that demands you pay attention to it, that you bask in the words and the atmosphere they create, that you linger over them with your thoughts. That you spend actual time with these characters, and get to know and love them. If you’re not a reader who can put that much mental effort into reading, don’t bother with this one. And please, if you do, don’t blame the book if you have a bad experience.

Griffith’s afterword makes it clear she’s not done with Hild’s story, and she’s currently working on a sequel that will take us into Hild’s adult life, where she will have to do much less guesswork, as Hild’s life from that point is part of the historical record.

Make sure to check out these reviews also, because as always with books that I really love, my own words feel inadequate:
•NPR Review
•Vulpes Libris Review ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jan 07, 2014 Cathy Douglas rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-classic-fiction, speculative-fiction, 2014

This turned out to be historical fantasy. Very little is known about Hilda's early life, so Griffith fills in with some highly improbable shit she made up. I kept having to ask myself if I had a problem with this, and myself kept saying no, not really. The everyday-life scenes that go on in the background--butter churning, cloth dying, childbirth--give the book a nice dose of real history. The storyline itself needs a grain of salt, but it works if you think of it as speculative fiction.

Hild's a ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
find and sort my book reivews	1	2	Sep 17, 2017 09:40PM
Are there others who can't read/didn't enjoy the book?	16	160	Sep 10, 2017 08:25PM
Around the Year i...: Hild, by Nicola Griffith	2	17	May 05, 2016 07:28PM
Our Novel Escape: December 2014 Read- Hild	1	19	Dec 06, 2014 08:57AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Videos About This Book

Add a comment

Genres

Historical > Historical Fiction

1,206 users

Fiction

465 users

Historical

249 users

Fantasy

198 users

Historical > Medieval

80 users

LGBT

65 users

GLBT > Queer

54 users

Young Adult

50 users

European Literature > British Literature

47 users

Adult

36 users

See top shelves…

About Nicola Griffith

Nicola Griffith

1,081 followers

Nicola Griffith has won the Washington State Book Award twice, the Nebula Award, the James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award, the World Fantasy Award, Premio Italia, six Lambda Literary Awards, and others. She is also the co-editor of the Bending the Landscape series of anthologies. Her newest novels are Hild and So Lucky. Her Aud Torvingen novels are soonn to be rereleased in new editions. She lives in ...more

Other books in the series

Light of the World (2 books)

Books by Nicola Griffith

More…

Meet the Epic and Awesome Authors of Fall's Big Fantasy Novels

If you love the fantasy genre, this is the season for you! Some of the biggest books out this fall promise to be epics full of magic, adventure,...

Trivia About Hild

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Hild

“Dogs own space and cats own time.” — 33 likes

“She liked time at the edges of things -- the edge of the crowd, the edge of the pool, the edge of the wood -- where all must pass but none quite belonged.” — 14 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — Hild by Nicola Griffith

Hild

(Light of the World #1)

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Videos About This Book

Genres

About Nicola Griffith

Other books in the series

Books by Nicola Griffith

Related Articles

Trivia About Hild

Quotes from Hild