Calling Hild a "gussied up fantasy novel" is, I think, supposed to be an insult. Which is why this review was so disappointing to read. You need to know what the lives of women were like in 7th century England to understand why Hild was so extraordinary-and you also need to know the kinship obligations between all the people on the page-most of whom are historical.
The amount of research is absolutely evident in the text but it's never overwhelming to the reader and it's all utterly essential. Griffith has written extensively about the research she undertook during the writing of this book. Hilda of Whitby, of whom very little is known-just a couple of paragraphs in The Ecclesiastical History of the English by the Venerable Bede. It follows the early life of the woman known to us as St. Hild is, without a doubt, one of the best books I've read this year. But it's also going to be a discussion of historical fiction and how historical fiction is also speculative fiction and shares much more with science fiction and fantasy than may be immediately apparent. This is going to be, in part, a review of Nicola Griffith's latest novel, Hild. Historical Fiction and Nicola Griffith's Hild
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