Book excerpt: In this fresh, classroom-friendly volume, Margery Kempe, a married woman from fifteenth-century England, dictates her remarkable life story. Far from provincial, this extraordinary woman tells us about her business ventures in Lynn, her spiritual conversion and asceticism, and her travels all around Europe and the Holy Land while on pilgrimage. Kempe presents a splendidly detailed perspective of a woman from the rising middle class of the late Middle Ages, of a frequent pilgrim, and of a would-be saint gifted with spectacular crying. This edition, faithful to the original Middle English text but edited for accessibility to students, includes a gloss, notes, introduction, and a glossary, making The Book of Margery Kempe an excellent choice for any class interested in religion, gender, travel, or even daily life in late medieval Europe.