Lilla Grindlay is the head of the English faculty at Sutton Valence School in Kent, England.
"Grindlay writes about an era that was going through a sort of
adolescence, as new forms of power emerged in the body politic, in
academia, and in the market place. In our own time, we face a
similar sort of adolescence as the issues of communication,
intelligence, and human identity confront us. This thoughtful study
of the Virgin Mary reminds us that it is in beauty rather than
function that the heavenly power and attraction of the Mother of
Christ resides." —Church Times
"Despite being powerfully backed by a reigning monarch, the English
Reformation also necessitated the dethronement of a reigning
monarch. Dethroned monarchs never go quietly into the dark. Ever
fainter echoes? Fading nostalgia? Secular disguise? A vanishing
Virgin? Not so, argues Lilla Grindlay in this vigorous and rich
book: Mary the Queen of Heaven stubbornly sticks around, taking
many forms, some lurid, as she reclaims her throne." —James
Simpson, Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English,
Harvard University
"The book makes an original contribution to the fields of gender
studies and English religious and literary studies. Lilla Grindlay
offers an important corrective to the long-standing claim that the
Blessed Virgin Mary disappears from English religious writing at
the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. The book is very well
written. Grindlay's care for her subject is evident in every
sentence. Ultimately, her goal is to persuade the reader that their
understanding of the post-Reformation/post-medieval status of the
Virgin is incomplete. The book is really lovely to read. Grindlay
has taken great care to make her work accessible, interesting, and
important."—Patricia Badir, author of The Maudlin Impression:
English Literary Images of Mary Magdalene, 1550–1700
“This is a thoroughly stimulating volume, clearly written and
helpfully sign-posted throughout that demonstrates Grindlay’s
erudition as a literary scholar. It makes a helpful contribution to
the field of English Reformation Studies and offers interesting
insights for those studying gender in the early modern period.”
—British Catholic History
“Grindlay’s book is timely and valuable, and remedies an important
gap in Reformation studies by encouraging its readers to consider
more nuanced accounts of cultural loss.” —Renaissance and
Reformation
“Grindlay explains clearly and concisely why the (extra-scriptural)
teachings that Mary was physically taken into heaven after her
death and crowned queen of heaven created such a stark dividing
line between Protestant and Catholic religious and literary
culture.” —The Journal of Theological Studies
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