A review by _andherbooks
Mere by Danielle Giles

mysterious tense slow-paced

4.0

In her debut novel, Giles’ lyrical prose brings to life a waterlogged and forgotten corner of medieval England where the ever-present mere threatens to claim lives and incite madness, where the tenderness of love, friendship, and the renewal of life cling on to existence wherever they can.

Centred around a convent and the nuns and lay people living there, Giles weaves a chilling tale in which an unsettling and sinister presence lures the reader in, unable to escape until the truth is revealed. The convent faces a crisis: risk a descent into chaos with the hope that salvation will come after, or preserve the status quo and risk death. Female power and female relationships are explored, often subverting the ideas traditionally held about medieval nuns; the novel examines what happens when women turn on each other versus when they unite in a setting not often utilised for such a theme.

Giles’ crisp details of the natural world and the visceral realities of medieval life evoke the brutal and oppressive setting of the marshes in winter, a reminder that perhaps humans aren’t in control despite a fervent belief in God.