Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain

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With her musical creations as equally enchanting as her other work, there is no doubt that Amy is a multi-talented artist and author with plenty more to come. Ultimately, Amy’s retellings open up a remarkable world brimming with wonderous tales of giants, legends and magical myths; one that is hard to put down and ever-enthralling to explore.

A life-long lover of music, Amy turned to the medium in an attempt to help her complete the final stages of illustrating the book. Through song-writing, she hoped to find the emotion in each story so that her illustrations would become a motif, comprehensively depicting the overall plot line in one piece. “Coming to the end of illustrating Storyland I was feeling myself getting complacent in producing the images. When I started off, there was this adrenaline to it and it was fading as I got 45 illustrations in and having to do a lot more of other things at the same time. And then one day I sat down at the piano and I thought, “well maybe I could think through some of the emotions in the scene that I’ve got to illustrate by coming up with songs about them” so I wrote several songs – five of which we have put as an EP on Spotify, they’re called Songs for Albion.” Having studied Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge University, before completing an MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art and gaining a PhD in Art History from Corpus Christi College, Amy has a wealth of knowledge in medieval art and literature; one that she is effortlessly able to access when reciting lines at length. Most interestingly to us in Bath, Amy retells the ancient story of Bladud of Bath – a legendary king of the Britons. Supposedly, he ruled for 20 years several hundred centuries BC, and is credited as the architect of Bath, channelling the hot springs by the use of magic and building temples dedicated to the goddess Minerva. Practising necromancy and communicating with the dead, he was a genius, a magician and respected by allSet between the Creation and Noah’s Flood and embellished with a series of linocut illustrations, Storyland reimagines the myths of Britain through a modern lens. Remembering legends including Bladud of Bath, Merlin in Stonehenge and Joseph of Arimathea in Glastonbury, Amy pays close attention to the weight these characters once carried in our societies; how they still speak to the modern world; and through themes of belonging and homeland, how compellingly consistent we are as human beings in our fundamental desires. As I sat down with the author, printmaker and art historian this month, it was a delight to slip away through the mists of time. What is most remarkable about Amy’s reimagining of this particular story is that it is depicted through the eyes of Bladud’s son, Prince Leir – Shakespeare’s King Lear – which adds another layer of complexity to the narrative as we think about what and who ‘Leir’ became in later life. A desire to share the stories and get people excited about them was the beginning of it all. I was fascinated by how the illustrations in the Brut legend followed the narrative action but they were very concise illustrations and communicated so many elements of an episode so efficiently. I really enjoyed that challenge of persuading people through pictures that these were stories to pay attention to and to enjoy.” A linocut illustration by Amy Jeffs depicting the ancient story that saw Merlin, the wizard of Arthurian legend, create Stonehenge. From the chapter titled Stonehenge In one particular chapter, Amy retells the ancient story of Bladud of Bath – a legendary king of the Britons. Supposedly, he ruled for twenty years several hundred centuries BC, and is credited as the architect of Bath, channelling the hot springs by the use of magic and building temples dedicated to the goddess Minerva. Practising necromancy and communicating with the dead, he was a genius, a magician and respected by all. Amy Jeffs’ debut book, Storyland, has captivated the hearts of readers across the nation. Steeped in magic and mystery and grounded in meticulous research in manuscripts and our ancient landscape, Amy’s mythical world is movingly articulated.

I suppose with choosing to tell it through the eyes of Prince Leir – I was interested in what parental pride looks like through the eyes of a child because, of course, children trust and believe their parents, and so maybe there is a disjunct between what Leir sees and what the reader sees.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, I think when we forget the histories we once believed, we can’t appreciate the motivations that led to events and decisions that had a real material impact on the future. Just because we no longer believe in giants and goddesses doesn’t mean we should dismiss them as whimsy.” About the Author: 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.

As we visit every corner of the nation from Orkney to Cornwall, from Snowdon to Stonehenge, Amy creatively peers through the eyes of characters who only ever played supporting roles, allowing us as readers to appreciate the stories from a different perspective. In a commentary that follows each retelling, Amy expands on the historical references and hidden meanings buried within the original source materials – a fascinating and much-welcomed addition to the book. Many of these stories were really dominant in Britain until the mid-16th century when we would see more modern techniques of historical inquiry take over and tales of goddesses and giants fall by the wayside slightly, but some of these stories were taken so seriously that they really did inform political decision-making. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada:One interesting thing about Bladud is the resemblance between the story of Icarus and Daedalus. Bladud commits the same crime of desiring to fly – to achieve the ultimate,” Amy hints. “And just as Daedalus is in some ways punished to achieve human flight, there is a punishment in store for Bladud.” With her musical creations equally as enchanting as her other work, there is no doubt that Amy is a multi-talented artist and author with plenty more to come.