"I have been reading Lady Julian of Norwich," declares C.S. Lewis in a letter to his former pupil, the Benedictine mystic Bede Griffiths. "A dangerous book, clearly. I'm glad I didn't read it much earlier." Thomas Merton wrote simply, "There can be no doubt that Julian is the greatest of the English mystics."

Few texts have had held such interest or been the object of such enduring devotion as has Julian of Norwich's 14th-century classic A Revelation of Love. This great work -- along with The Cloud of Unknowing and Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle -- form the very heart of Western mysticism, and each generation has cherished its beautiful poetry and profound account of a soul's quest for the divine. This new translation of Julian's mystical writings offers today's reader immediate access to this most powerful spiritual of books written in English. Julian's message of God's intimate and enabling love is revealed as both beguiling and inescapable. The poetry and rhythmic structure of the original Middle English text are respected, yet it is given fresh immediacy since it is now rendered in inclusive language for the first time ever. Moreover Julian's key ideas are easily identified-even by newcomers to her unique system of thought-by means of an original and authoritative linking commentary at the head of each key chapter, as well as continuing support from highly informative footnotes and a detailed glossary of the main terms used.