Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen

The unforgettable story of how Hildegard of Bingen, Benedictine abbess and polymath, triumphed against impossible odds to become the greatest woman of her age.   Hildegard experienced mystic visions from a very young age.   Offered by her noble family to the Church at the age of eight, she lived for years in forced silence. But through the study of books and herbs, through music and the kinship of her sisters, Hildegard found her way from a life of submission to a calling that celebrated the divine glories all around us. An outspoken critic of political and ecclesiastical corruption, she courted controversy and nearly died an excommunicant. Her courage and originality of thought continue to inspire today.   In this brilliantly researched and insightful novel, Mary Sharratt combines fiction, history, and Hildegardian philosophy into a moving portrait of a woman willing to risk everything for what she believed, a triumphant exploration of the life she might well have lived.