Since the last edition, the world as we know it has been turned topsyturvy. With the nation under lockdown, schools shut for the foreseeable future and shops and restaurants lying dormant, we are encountering a situation that we may have only read of in dystopian novels or bingewatched on Netflix.
Therefore, amidst all this worry, and the potential loss of loved ones during this time, we need to think squarely about the best way to get through this period and to consider things that act as a salve to our psyches. The amazing consolation of nature must be stressed: one work colleague described to me how she sat in her garden and watched a mother rabbit feeding her kittens and then burrow them back in the ground for safety. Others have said that, in the absence of noise pollution, the chirping of birdsong has provided temporary peace of mind against the turmoil and the incessant media reporting.
Although my plans to finish The Mirror and the Light have not yet been realised, literature has provided me with much-needed solace, with one particular work being paramount. Dame Julian of Norwichs Revelation of Divine Love, the first book by a woman writer in English, was written in the late 14th century. Dame Julian was an anchoress – a religious hermit – in Norwich Cathedral, and during her early life encountered the ravages of the Black Death and other trials and tribulations to which Middle Ages England was subject. Her work is a series of shewings, depicting her religious experiences she encountered when she was seriously ill. The whole book is a feast for the senses and the intellect; it is a literary critics dream. However, at this time, it is the spiritual consolation, not the intellectual engagement that is important. In particular, her famous assertion that – All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well – resonates strongly for me. Therefore, as I sit anxiously in my home office, away from my beloved school, I sincerely hope that this is true.