Mere

About the Book

A Sunday Times Book of the Year (December 2025)

A Press Association Book of the Year (December 2025)

'Beautifully written, you will be drawn into the claustrophobic world of the mere, where sinners fear the retribution of both God and the devil'
- Laura Shepherd-Robinson, bestselling author of The Square of Sevens

‘Haunting and beautiful . . . Even in Mere's brutality, there is a rare tenderness to be found’
- Lucy Rose, bestselling author of The Lamb

Norfolk, AD 990. Deep in the Fens, an order of holy sisters lives in quiet isolation, cut off from the outside world by a treacherous marsh known as the mere. Convent healer Hilda and her fellow nuns follow God’s path under the steely guidance of their abbess.

But when a young servant boy goes missing in the marsh, rumour and division spread like wildfire through the community and the abbess's grip falters. Where is the boy? Who took him? Why can he not be found?

Then, newly arrived Sister Wulfrun has a vision: a curse is upon them and change must be brought. As the convent is swept up in a fight for its very survival, Hilda finds herself caught in her own battle between her conscience and her growing feelings for the enigmatic Wulfrun . . .

‘A forbidden and passionate love story which held me captivated to the last page’
- Anya Bergman, author of The Witches of Vardo

About the Author :
Danielle Giles is a writer and researcher based in Bristol. She has been published (writing as Danielle Vrublevskis) in Extra Teeth and Dear Damsels, shortlisted for the Bristol Short Story Prize and the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize, and longlisted for the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize. She won the Local Prize in the 2023 Bath Short Story Award. Mere is her first novel; a second historical gothic novel is currently in the works.

Review :
A dark and disturbing tale set in an East Anglian abbey in Dark Ages England, where the old pagan Gods are meeting a fledgling Christianity. A supernatural mystery, a political power struggle, a romance, a woman bringing compassion and healing to a brutal world, and fenland ripe with stagnant secrets. Beautifully written, you will be drawn into the claustrophobic world of the mere, where sinners fear the retribution of both God and the devil It is rare for an author to fully recreate the strangeness of the past, but Danielle Giles has done exactly that. Through eerie, beautiful writing, she takes readers on a mystery in Medieval Norfolk, until, like the proud, resourceful women of this novel, one can't help but be swallowed into one of the damp mouths of the mere. This is a gem of a novel Chilling, dark and immersive, I raced through Mere. I loved the originality of the story and the brave and unexpected use of language. Such a treat of a novel This is an artful and atmospheric novel that reveals uncomfortable truths about the way we lived then and, for the thoughtful, the way we live now This is historical fiction at its most captivating. Mere is a story about fear and survival, each page crackling with intrigue . . . Simmering with secrets and ultimately love, I was swept away by this book Danielle Giles has created a captivating world that pulls the reader in as strongly as the mere itself, and the characters feel imprinted on my mind. This is a book filled with gentle magic, gentle horror, gentle love, and I adored it from beginning to end Atmospheric, gorgeously mystical, Danielle Giles spins the tale of Mere with poetic perfection. A beautiful story of hope in the midst of darkness and decay Mere is a deftly written, stirring debut novel and a folk tale I'd yearn to hear around a campfire. Haunting and beautiful, it is a deeply affecting read that will stay with me for a long time to come. Even in Mere's brutality, there is a rare tenderness to be found Mere is a stunning debut novel. As the old pagan world of dark magic collides with the fragile faith of a group of nuns isolated in the treacherous fenlands of Norfolk in the tenth century, the community struggle to survive. At its heart is a forbidden and passionate love story which held me captivated to the last page Dark, evocative and atmospheric - I loved it! Danielle Giles’s first novel conjures up the early medieval world with startling richness and intensity A meticulously told story, Mere is a brilliant read With lyrical prose that simmers with imagers, Giles blurs the boundaries between the natural world and the unnatural A medieval Orange Is The New Black. It’s haunting and heartrending as well as life-affirming Giles's memorably distinct and atmospheric debut is . . . laced with Dark-Age eeriness Danielle Giles is ahead of her time in nun-fiction . . . this debut author has a rare talent for being able to transport the reader so immersively Mere very quickly pulls you, unflinchingly, into the captivating and claustrophobic world of the crumbling convent in which it’s set