The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises

This slim volume brings the quiet, intense spirituality of a 14th‑century English mystic into clear, modern language. The translator preserves the original cadence where possible, letting phrases like “by their lone” echo from the past while replacing obscure terms with today’s equivalents. Readers are invited into the author’s contemplative world, where love and truth intertwine and the pursuit of a perfect life is framed as a gradual ascent through heat, sweetness, and melody.

Beyond the devotional essays, the work offers a brief portrait of the hermit’s rugged path: a young scholar who abandoned university life, found refuge with a noble family, and later survived on strangers’ generosity while spreading a demanding, self‑effacing message. Though his teachings challenged the comforts of ordinary believers, the text remains a gentle guide for anyone drawn to deep prayer, inner quiet, and the timeless quest for spiritual wholeness.