Amy Jeffs is a Somerset-based art historian and printmaker with expertise in medieval art and literature. In 2020, she gained a PhD in Art History from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, having worked at the British Library, and studied for earlier degrees at the Courtauld Institute of Art and Cambridge. Her first book, Storyland, was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year. Wild is her second book.
A beautiful retelling of British myths and exquisitely illustrated
too.
*James Holland on Storyland, Daily Express (Book of the Year)*
This gorgeous book should live on the bookshelves in every house
that cares about "the idea of Britain, what is was and where it
came from."
*The Times (On Storyland)*
Marries words and images to create a special echo of this country's
rich past.
*The Times*
Jeffs is the narrator, providing a reading that is suffused with
portent and otherworldliness. Listeners gain a series of folk
songs, written and performed by Jeffs, each of which adds a
thrilling new dimension to these ancient fables.
*Guardian (Audiobook of the Week)*
Across seven themed chapters the Storyland author presents an
inspiring excavation of the British countryside through diverse
medieval texts.
*Waterstones (The Best History Books of 2022)*
Jeffs teases out nuance, divining moral and metaphorical meaning
from each story, and questions ways that this living history of
Britain impacts upon our present-day understanding of landscape.
The writing throughout is celebratory and evocative.
*Art Quarterly*
Jeffs has a gift for breathing new life into ancient stories
through her lyrical writing, deep research and evocative woodcuts.
She connects our mythic history to the landscape with delicacy and
humour. Reading Wild feels like being led by the hand through a
gnarled, old growth forest, along empty shoreflats, and along the
edge of windswept cliffs - and shown how to experience them through
medieval eyes. It's a jewel of a book.
*Natalie Lawrence - co-author of Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant
Intelligence*
Immersive . . . Her stories are arranged across seven chapters -
Earth, Ocean, Forest, Beast, Fen, Catastrophe and Paradise. Jeffs,
a medieval scholar with her own wild streak, introduces each in
confident, forceful tones. She also sings six of her songs,
accompanied by early musical instruments. Lucy Paterson, who has
one of those warm, low,
rich voices that can hold you mesmerised, tells the tales.
*The Times (Audiobook of the Week)*
An extraordinarily multidimensional work, moving seamlessly from
creative retellings of the stories to explanations of the texts and
where they came from, underpinned all the time by sound academic
understanding. Those reading the print version can marvel at the
extraordinary black-and-white wood cuttings that break up the
chapters, while those enjoying the audiobook version can listen to
music inspired by the same tales.
*Countryfile Magazine (Best nature and wildlife books for
2023)*
This beautiful book . . . takes the reader back into the medieval
mind, exploring ancient myths and poems rooted deep in the British
landscape.
*Wiltshire Life*
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