Medieval Woman

Village Life in the Middle Ages

By: Ann Baer

Narrated by: Sarah Whitehouse

A history of peasants in the Middle Ages, the story takes the listener into the life of Marion, the carpenter's wife, and her extended family as they struggle to survive through hardship, featuring a year in their lives at the mercy of the weather and the Lord of the Manor.

Existing without soap, paper or glass and only with the most basic of tools, we learn how they survive starvation, sickness, fire and natural disaster in their home on the edge of the Weald.

©1998 Ann Baer (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Interesting

Somewhat monotonous as I’m sure the life of a medieval woman must normally have been. Lives revolved around seasons and food stores and other essentials. I think what struck me as most sad is that they didn’t have much to occupy their minds in fallow times. No books, no nothing. Just sitting quiet and staying warm was all the luxury they could expect. Even an imaginative person usually had little to occupy the mind since they only had nature and knew almost nothing about the rest of the world. Second was the filth. People knew little about cleanliness and rarely washed. The stink must have been godawful. Pretty realistic portrait of the life of a serf.

I was surprised at the close relationship with the manor, the friendliness that seemed to exist between the noble family and their serfs. And also how little difference there seemed to be between their lives and the sorrows they were subject to.

The narrator is perfect for this.

I docked it one star because, with the lack of any actual plot, I was glad when it was done.

I want a Sequel!

Enthralled by this tale of a young woman’s life in a village where it was rare and frightening ( and few did) to even to travel to the next town. I did not want it to end!

A nice picture of Medieval daily life!

For those reviewers who complain it’s a boring story...they misunderstand the purpose of this book, this is NOT a novel.
It’s simply a look into the daily grind of a medieval woman’s life and it does it beautifully. Narration is wonderful and never distracting.

The unending labor!

This story went through approximately 1 year in the lives of a family during medieval times. Fascinating!

Fantastic book

I wish I could find another book like this one, or a sequel. Historically accurate and fascinating.

good book

It was enjoyable. It was what life probably looked like for a woman during those times. Only thing I didn't care for much was the narration. I liked the accent when the narrator was being in the first person. I did not care for her toddler impression when the narrator attempted the toddler voice. At least there wasn't a lot of it. Ewwww.. It is just my opinion. You may not mind it at all.

Reality check

Wonderful work. A friendly reminder of all the technological, legal, and social advances western society enjoys today.

Enjoyed

I enjoyed the story, it is a bittersweet tell of a woman’s everyday struggle with things we take for granted. How difficult life was for our ancestors, makes you appreciate simple things like food, warmth, and being clean.

So interesting!

This is a year-in-the-life of an ordinary village woman during medieval times. There’s no particular overarching plot other than the daily happenings of this woman, her family, and the lives of her fellow villagers. I found this story exceptionally well-written and well-read as an example of the ways that a medieval woman’s life might be both similar to— and completely different than— my own. To be perfectly honest I could have listened to hours more of this story. The tales of these people were fascinating and I found myself wondering how each of these lives would play out, including this ordinary medieval woman, who in her differences from me became somewhat extraordinary. Full disclosure, I am writing this review after listening to this audiobook for the second time, and I love it now as much as I did after listening to it the first time. I will seek out more by this author and hope she writes with the same thoughtfulness that she gave this book.

So simple and yet so effective

I loved it. I could see it not appealing to everyone but I loved seeing real daily life like this. Marion’s worries are very different from modern worries but you can really appreciate them and her viewpoint of them.