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The second volume in what Nicola Griffith is now calling The Hild Sequence, is huge in many ways. Almost 700 pp in hardcover, scores of characters, and at least two wars. As a huge gift to the reader the book also includes maps, a character list and a glossary. Unless you have a better memory than I do, you will need all three of those.

Her first book in the sequence, Hild, was one of the best books I ever read. In it we are introduced to a curious and bright young girl who is a niece of King Edwin of Northumbria. She is based on a real woman known as St Hilda of Whitby, though history has not given us much about her. Nicola Griffith imagines her into being based on meticulous research into seventh-century Britain.

Hild’s intelligence and curiosity as a child was spent on studying everything around her and recognizing patterns. She developed the ability to predict what would happen in most any situation. Edwin thought she was a seer and off she went at the age of eight, riding with the King into war. The King won.

In Menewood, Hild has been granted a piece of land on which she intends to create a safe haven for her family and friends: Menewood is what she names it. She is 18 now, married and newly pregnant. The King is headed into another war and demands her presence. She obeys but only after she has overseen the caching of food, animals, and other supplies to keep her people fed and safe.

From that point on it is non-stop action, devastating loss, and her growing ability to lead her warriors with the same perception she gave the King. If you are a woman with strength and a strong will, you will recognize that skill she has of keeping at least one thousand things in mind at all times.

I found Menewood to be quite a different experience than Hild. In the first book, she is a child coming of age in a violent world. In this one she is a young woman coming into her full powers as well as pondering moral imperatives. It was in some ways deeper than the first book but in other ways more serious. I read it over seven days. It was a reading marathon!

Of course, I wanted the next book immediately. In an interview, Nicola Griffith promised not to make us wait another 10 years. I want so much to see how Hild becomes St Hilda. I don’t think she will be your usual kind of saint. She will be fully herself.