Eighteen years ago I went to Norwich to be interviewed for a job as a reporter at Anglia TV.
I had time to spare before catching the train back to London, so I visited the cathedral. As I left, my eye was caught by a leaflet in a display near the door. I read that Julian of Norwich, a woman writer and mystic, had lived in the city in the fourteenth century. There was a map, showing the route to her reconstructed cell at St Julian’s Church. I was curious, so I went to take a look.
When I entered the little cell I felt a wonderful, welcoming, loving atmosphere. I sat and meditated for a while – and was filled with a feeling of elation and deep peace. A couple of weeks later a friend invited me to accompany him for a day out in Norwich, where he had meetings. I had never been to Norwich before and here I was going for the second time in a few weeks! This time I took the opportunity to research Julian in the resource centre and library next to the church.
I learnt that Julian was born in 1343. At the age of 30, she says, she had a series of visions of the crucifixion, during which she was entrusted with a number of messages. The messages were profound and beautiful, communicating the love of a God who is never angry and who looks upon humanity with pity, not with blame.
Julian tells us that far from wanting us to come to Him as miserable supplicants begging forgiveness, God regards us as his darling children; that He wants us to know we are already absolved of blame for all our wrongdoing, past, present and future; that He wants us to come to him and accept the compassionate love that awaits us.
In Julian's time – when the church was preaching hellfire and damnation for wicked sinners – such ideas would have been considered heretical, and the punishment for heresy was to be burnt at the stake. Julian needed seclusion and secrecy in order to ponder he meaning of the messages. So she became an anchoress, or hermit, living in a room attached to St Julian's Church, in Norwich, from which she took her name. There she wrote her book, The Revelations of Divine Love, which is now a spiritual classic. I was overawed by her dedication and her courage.
I returned to London completely hooked, knowing that I must write about this extraordinary woman. All of this had happened because of chance events. As I later learnt, Julian says that nothing happens by chance.
There is so much in Julian that is beautiful and profound. I felt that the ideal way to include her in a story was to show her gently influencing two women who are doing their best to cope with life as it is today. Incidentally, some experts believe that Julian’s teaching was kept safe over the centuries and intended for our times.
Initially, my story about Julian was to be a play. I am a journalist by profession and my fictional work had always been for the theatre. Gradually I came to realise that a novel would be a more suitable form.
My novel, The Greening, tells the story of Joanna, an ethical Fleet Street journalist who is being put under pressure to compromise her principles. She is having an affair with a Government minister, a sinister character whom she suspects of manipulating the political events she is reporting.
As the building blocks of her life seem set to tumble around her, Joanna chances upon the journal of the mysterious Anna Leigh. She becomes engaged by Anna’s compelling confessional about her life-changing encounter with the mystic Julian. Joanna reads Julian’s own words and is captivated. She is reminded of her own neglected ambition to pursue the truth at all costs.
Joanna chose a career in journalism out of a sense of vocation, to uncover lies and reveal the truth. But she has become disillusioned by the dog-eat-dog world in which she works.
Julian’s powerful words challenge Joanna, who realises that she has to make a choice that will affect the rest of her life. But can she believe Julian’s promise that life can have meaning and purpose and that pain and suffering can lead to fulfilment and peace? Joanna embarks upon a quest that leads her through many adventures, risking everything she holds dear to win the greatest prize of all.
While writing The Greening, I came to the conclusion that it was work I was meant to do. I believe that each of us comes into this world with a plan to carry out and that this was mine.
The Greening seems to have captured people's imaginations, with interviews on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and Radio 2's Good Morning Sunday With Clare Balding and Steve Wright in the Afternoon. The Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph have given The Greening excellent reviews, helping to make it a best-seller in three of Amazon's book genres.
To my amazement and delight, The Greening has been endorsed by Lord Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
It was always uppermost in my mind that I wanted to tell a story that was real and that pulled no punches; an entertaining story that carried the reader along and most definitely was not preachy; one that was life-affirming and gave authentic hope. Letters I have received from readers who said The Greening helped them through difficult patches have been the best reward I could hope for.
The Greening, by Margaret Coles, is published by Hay House, and is available in paperback (£8.99) and as an ebook. More information at www.julian-of-norwich-novel.tumblr.com
