Saints - by Amy Jeffs (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the bestselling author of Storyland and Wild comes a sweeping new legendary of miracles, magic, human frailty, and heroic strength. Illustrated by the author with over thirty original papercut portraits.

In Saints, historian and artist Amy Jeffs illuminates the lives of medieval saints, drawing on official biographies, vernacular romances, artworks, and poetry to tell of wayfaring monks, oak-felling missionaries, and mighty martyrs.

Organized by feast month, this enchanting compendium presents the legends of Brigid, Patrick, Nicholas, and Augustine as well as saints whose stories are less well-known (Ia, Mungo, Scoithín, and Euphrosyne). Combining history and myth, tradition and invention, Jeffs offers transporting tales of demons and dragons, men raised by wolves, and women who commune with birds.

About the Author

Amy Jeffs is a Somerset-based art historian and printmaker with expertise in medieval art and literature. She holds 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. She published her first book, Storyland, in the fall of 2023.