Written in the late 14th century by the anchorite Julian of Norwich, this is the earliest surviving book written in English by a woman. Julian experienced a series of visions during a near-death illness in 1373 and spent the next twenty years in her cell at St Julian's Church working out their meaning. The result is a theological meditation on divine love that is also, unexpectedly, one of the most direct and accessible pieces of medieval prose.
Her central message — "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well" — has become one of the most quoted phrases in English spiritual writing. Reading it before or after visiting the church on King Street adds a layer of specificity that general medieval history doesn't provide.