Description

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, author Rebecca Abrams tells the compelling tale of Licoricia of Winchester, whose statue has just been unveiled outside The Arc.

Licoricia is the story of one woman in the thirteenth century living not only within her Jewish community, but alongside her Christian neighbours in the old capital of Winchester. Her life and that of her family reflect the experiences of the Jews of medieval England during the century that ended with their expulsion to the continent, and with it the story of Jewry in this country, until their return in the seventeenth century.

Rebecca Abrams is the award-winning author of eight works of fiction and non-fiction, including The Jewish Journey: 4000 Years in 22 Objects and Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries. She teaches creative writing at Oxford University and is a regular literary critic for the Financial Times. Her new book, Licoricia of Winchester: Power and Prejudice in Thirteenth Century England, will be published in April 2022.

Photo credit: Iona Wolff