Having recently read a novel based on the life of two medieval women - Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe - I was interested to read this new book about them and two other significant individuals of the time. It's not a period I would normally be interested in but the novel was great ('For thy great pain have mercy on my little pain') and this book is brilliantly written - it's so easy to read and opens up their lives wonderfully.

We tend to know so little about this period because few documents remain, and letters and essays written by women are particularly scarce.

But four extraordinary women did share their thoughts and feelings in writing. Marie de France was a poet, Julian of Norwich was a mystic and anchoress, Christine de Pizan was a widow and court writer, and Margery Kempe was a "no-good wife" who wrote the first published autobiography in history.

Hetta Howes interrogates the documents left to us by these four women and sets them in context giving a lively, entertaining and hugely informative account of how women lived from the 12th to 15th centuries.

Chapters look at childbirth, motherhood, marriage, extramarital affairs, the desire to travel, occupations, friendship, politics, independence and autonomy, death and legacy.

In their own ways these four very different writers pushed back against the misogyny of the period. Each broke new ground in women's writing and left us incredible insights into the world of medieval life and politics. Their spirit and determination is phenomenal and inspiring. 

'We'll never know how many other medieval women hoped to craft a legacy by putting quill to parchment, only to have their words lost or their names forgotten,' says Howes. 'But, thanks to Marie, Julian, Christine and Margery, we know that they did exist.

'Undeterred by the obstacles in their path, or by the limitations place on them by society, our poet, mystic, widow and wife all managed to make their voices heard. By listening to what they have to say, paying attention to what they have to tell us, we can learn more about their world, hundreds of years ago - and also, perhaps, our own.' A brilliant book which I will turn back to again.