The essays in this book use the nine-line poem known as Cædmon’s Hymn as a lens on the world of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. A cowherd who is given a divine gift, Cædmon retells the great narratives of Christian history in the traditional form of Anglo-Saxon verse. An immense amount has been written about this episode, much of it concentrating on the hymn’s significance in the history of English literature. Relatively little attention, however, has been paid to what the story of Cædmon and his hymn might tell us about the material, as well as the textual, culture of Bede’s world. The essays in this collection seek to connect Cædmon’s Hymn to Bede’s material world in various ways. Each chapter begins with the hymn and moves from the text to the worlds of scientific thought, settlements and social hierarchy, monastic reform, and ordinary things. The connections explored here are a sampling of the material concerns Cædmon’s Hymn raises.

In a rigid postwar institution where friendships burn bright and heartbreak stings sharper than medicine, Mila must decide whether to retreat or risk everything for love.

Within the cloistered world of a 1950s French sanatorium, sixteen-year-old Mila is learning more than just how to recover; she’s learning how to want. Stranded among a cast of unruly girls, she navigates longing and the quiet defiance of being a young lesbian in a world that prefers silence. There’s Marie, full of teasing bravado; the two Nicoles, who always weep; and Josette, who fills the air with accordion melodies. Then there’s Paule, a striking staff member whose attention is intoxicating—until it isn’t. Just as Mila begins to believe in the possibility of something real, Paule turns toward another, leaving Mila caught between jealousy and the aching pull of first love.

Originally published in 1985, Hymn to Moray Eels is a rare and brilliant gem of queer literature, balancing wry humor with aching tenderness. Mireille Best’s unsentimental prose captures the bittersweet contradictions of adolescence, creating a coming-of-age novel that is both deeply personal and strikingly universal.