The book of Margery Kempe
The earliest known autobiography of an English person and one of the most engaging of Christian 'Lives'. The author describes in homely, unembarrassed detail the madness that followed the birth of her first child, the failure of her brewery business in King's Lynn, her conversion and--the bulk and purpose of this book--her life's journey towards God. The story of difficulties with her husband, lone pilgrimages abroad, uncontrollable tears, meditation and visions is remarkable and touching less as a work of mysticism, but as a portrait of the world of a medieval woman, and a record of human faith.