Margery Kempe

Is there a good book that is not, in some fundamental way, odd? This book is odd, and it is brilliant, and if you're a little odd yourself, it will do you rapturous good to read it. I've hesitated too long to take the plunge... Don't make the same mistake. Read this book now!

Margery Kempe deserves to be seen by a readership that responds to the same stunning language that characterizes Joyce' best work, and the profound sense of longing that hasn't been rendered since McCullers. There aren't many works of fiction today that take such risk, and this risk has little to do with the sense of erotic in the portrayal of Jesus. Rather, the risk is in the completely raw characterization of Margery and her unabashed expressions of abandon that symbolize desire at its most powerful and destructive. Here is a female protagonist that loves what she loves and is not concerned with forming a humble or pretty picture. She is a "failed saint" because she is a raw, real character. Gluck has built an incredible story around both Kempe and her modern, parallel "brother."