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Eleanor Among the Saints
In her second collection, Mann wrestles with the questions and possibilities raised when trans identity, faith and the limits of myth and language intersect and are tested. Eleanor Among the Saints is a study in the queer joy found in counter-factuals and fantasy, shaped through the prism of the disputed story of Eleanor Rykener, a medieval trans woman, seamstress and sex worker.
96 pages, Paperback
Published March 28, 2024
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142 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Mann
20 books7 followersLibrarian note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Rachel Mann is a British Anglican priest, poet and feminist theologian. She is a trans woman who writes, speaks and broadcasts on a wide range of topics including gender, sexuality and religion.
Rachel Mann is a British Anglican priest, poet and feminist theologian. She is a trans woman who writes, speaks and broadcasts on a wide range of topics including gender, sexuality and religion.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 30, 2024
(3.5) This is Mann’s second collection, after A Kingdom of Love. In reviewing that book I remarked on the psalm-like cadence, the anatomical and allusive language, and the contrast of past and present. All are elements here as well. The first long section was inspired by Eleanor/John Rykener, a 14th-century seamstress and sex worker whom some have claimed as a trans pioneer. Little is known about her life or self-identification, so Mann does not attempt biography here, but rather is thinking alongside the character. “Construct me weird and kind, leave it to me / To strip off when I’m ready. I shall run wild, / Naked as I dare, out into sober streets.”
Three later poems share the title “A Charm to Change Sex,” each numbered and in two columns – you have a choice of whether to read them across or down the page. Either way, they land somewhere between a spell and a prayer (and there are many other prayers in the table of contents): “Hidden: transfix / Invisible made visible … oh so holy, words lead everywhere / inside become out”. Bodies are as provisional as speech (“All text is stitched, / Body too only subset of making, a stored magic”), and inescapably frail, as evidenced by a father’s illness and death, the subject of several poems.
Repetition and wordplay (“razed/raised”) sometimes tail off into faltering phrases – “#TDOR” is most notable for this. And “Seven Proof Texts on a Transitioned Body” is, by itself, worth buying the book for, with alliteration and slang pushing back at medical and scriptural vocabulary. Mann is an incredibly versatile writer: I’ve read a memoir, a work of literary appreciation, and an academic thriller by her as well as her published poetry. And while I found less that resonated in this collection, I still admired its rigorous engagement with history, theology, and the facts of a life.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Three later poems share the title “A Charm to Change Sex,” each numbered and in two columns – you have a choice of whether to read them across or down the page. Either way, they land somewhere between a spell and a prayer (and there are many other prayers in the table of contents): “Hidden: transfix / Invisible made visible … oh so holy, words lead everywhere / inside become out”. Bodies are as provisional as speech (“All text is stitched, / Body too only subset of making, a stored magic”), and inescapably frail, as evidenced by a father’s illness and death, the subject of several poems.
Repetition and wordplay (“razed/raised”) sometimes tail off into faltering phrases – “#TDOR” is most notable for this. And “Seven Proof Texts on a Transitioned Body” is, by itself, worth buying the book for, with alliteration and slang pushing back at medical and scriptural vocabulary. Mann is an incredibly versatile writer: I’ve read a memoir, a work of literary appreciation, and an academic thriller by her as well as her published poetry. And while I found less that resonated in this collection, I still admired its rigorous engagement with history, theology, and the facts of a life.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
December 25, 2025
Behold! she becomes they, all worm-gorged earth, or bed worn
And wet with fuck, let us be lines sown into lines, a break.
And wet with fuck, let us be lines sown into lines, a break.
October 12, 2024
4.5/5, so much juicy stuff in here!! i love discovering a new poet and just being able to immerse myself in their work and this is definitely what i was able to do with eleanor among the saints. medieval language is pulled into the 21st century; queerness is sanctified; time is fluid, identity is fluid, God is always the same and attitudes towards him always different. there are certain words, as well, whose meaning is transient across the collection - flesh, word, love - all with a religious and worldly meaning, and i love the way mann uses capitalisation to differentiate between the two. ‘Let those with ears hear: Love and love.’
i’m going to try to read the whole t.s eliot prize shortlist this year, and i’m so glad this is the first one i picked up. as a queer christian, it is always fascinating to see the places where queerness and faith intersect in a world in which the two concepts are so often pitted against each other, and mann manages it beautifully and poignantly. big slay would recommend!!
i’m going to try to read the whole t.s eliot prize shortlist this year, and i’m so glad this is the first one i picked up. as a queer christian, it is always fascinating to see the places where queerness and faith intersect in a world in which the two concepts are so often pitted against each other, and mann manages it beautifully and poignantly. big slay would recommend!!
October 21, 2025
i heard rachel mann read at the ts eliot awards earlier this year and was surprised at how much i connected with her poems
but sadly, reading them myself was a lot more different. i’d often get bored or not be able to feel anything when reading.
favourite poems:
- eleanor, in the beginning
- eleanor among the saints (it is a surprise)
- eleanor as a sixteen year old murdered trans girl, what is known
- eleanor as lyric poet
- blood sport
- praise (2)
- envoi
honorary mentions:
- thou that takest away
- #tdor
but sadly, reading them myself was a lot more different. i’d often get bored or not be able to feel anything when reading.
favourite poems:
- eleanor, in the beginning
- eleanor among the saints (it is a surprise)
- eleanor as a sixteen year old murdered trans girl, what is known
- eleanor as lyric poet
- blood sport
- praise (2)
- envoi
honorary mentions:
- thou that takest away
- #tdor
February 8, 2024
Particularly loved the poems about her dad and illness, absolutely gorgeous.
This collection read to me as about substitution and contradiction. We constantly see phrases which described one noun as another “for seam read rip”, “flesh as bloat”, “if flesh bread, if blood wine”. The second poem itself is titled “Substitution” and lists things we can read as others. This constant redefinition, the regurgitation of “flesh” at once as “bloat” and then as “bread” across different poems knits the various imagined bodies of the text into one, polysemous body, inhabiting both past and present, male and female (particularly with the poems about Eleanor), and divine and mortal (so much fun Eucharistic stuff in here!)
Really loved this, will definitely be rereading.
This collection read to me as about substitution and contradiction. We constantly see phrases which described one noun as another “for seam read rip”, “flesh as bloat”, “if flesh bread, if blood wine”. The second poem itself is titled “Substitution” and lists things we can read as others. This constant redefinition, the regurgitation of “flesh” at once as “bloat” and then as “bread” across different poems knits the various imagined bodies of the text into one, polysemous body, inhabiting both past and present, male and female (particularly with the poems about Eleanor), and divine and mortal (so much fun Eucharistic stuff in here!)
Really loved this, will definitely be rereading.
June 2, 2025
Eleanor Among the Saints
I liked this one a lot, especially the first and third sections! Section 1 centred on Eleanor Rykener, who lived in 14th century London and is often classified in modern historiography as a transgender woman (although, as the book points out, that's kind of a thorny way to look at things as transgender/transsexual etc are fundamentally 20th/21st century western ways of looking at gender and not how anyone would conceive of gender historically but that's a whole thing). Mann manages to weave a form of mythology and create a saintly story for Eleanor in a way that is incredibly engaging. I specifically like how it comments on creation and change, weaving together Eleanor's gender and sex with their work as both seamstress and sex worker to comment on these as interlinked processes of transformation and transfiguration.
In saintly mythologies and in the story of Jesus in Christian works, alongside other stories in Jewish and Islamic texts, transformation is an essential cornerstone which manifests through spiritual and physical changes. Jesus dies, is reborn, and is transfigured into his God image, St Perpetua becomes a man as they die, Adam and Eve are fundamentally changed when they eat the apple, etc. Saints often become saints through the change they cause through God on themselves and the world, so what is more saintly than changing ones sex? This is one of the central building blocks for Mann constructing this myth image of Eleanor Rykener as a patron saint of transgender women.
My favourite poem of the collection is "Eleanor and Rolandina In The City Of God", which consists of a conversation between Eleanor and another known historical example of a 14th century transgender woman and sex worker, Rolandina (they lived in Venice and was executed for sodomy). They comment together on their lives and sex, God, money, and Rolandina's death and it's such a well written poem. Other standouts from section 1 include:
Eleanor's Boast
Eleanor Among the Saints
Eleanor As a Sixteen Year Old Murdered Trans Girl, What is Known
Blood Sport
Section 2 I was less a fan of. It's still good, the poems are well written, but it's a lot more broad and centred largely on more standard Christian poetry, specifically Praise poems. I do like the ones that centre on Mann's relationship with her dad or on the landscape around her but it wasn't entirely what I was looking for after the first section. Standout Poems include:
Whitsun
Earth to Earth
Feast of the Epiphany
Fylde Coast Apocalyptic
Section 3 returns to transness in a more personal way for Mann, and these are some of the best poems. I can relate to a lot of them, I remember being so fascinated with change in the Bible when we studied it in religious class at school and the feelings of dysphoria and what it can do are definitely 100% relatable. "Seven Proof Texts on a Transitioned Body" is probably my favourite poem here, being the most personal in terms of how Mann relates her transness to her faith and tackles her dysphoria and the change she has carried out to combat it, but the 3 part "A Charm to Change Sex" is so good too whilst #TDOR (Trans Day of Remembrance) made me cry, the list of names is oh so long. Standout poems:
A Charm to Change Sex (1)
Seven Proof Texts on a Transitioned Body
A Charm to Change Sex (2)
#TDOR
A Charm to Change Sex (3)
Envoi
Overall, a really good collection of poetry. I don't think it'll work for a lot of people, it's definitely not gonna work for people who dislike or are ambivalent to poetry, and the Christian aspect will of course put people off, but I really enjoyed slowly working through a few poems a day with this and I'll probably reread a few over and over (also, they're pretty fun to read out for voice training, so affirming Rachel Mann, very cool!)
I liked this one a lot, especially the first and third sections! Section 1 centred on Eleanor Rykener, who lived in 14th century London and is often classified in modern historiography as a transgender woman (although, as the book points out, that's kind of a thorny way to look at things as transgender/transsexual etc are fundamentally 20th/21st century western ways of looking at gender and not how anyone would conceive of gender historically but that's a whole thing). Mann manages to weave a form of mythology and create a saintly story for Eleanor in a way that is incredibly engaging. I specifically like how it comments on creation and change, weaving together Eleanor's gender and sex with their work as both seamstress and sex worker to comment on these as interlinked processes of transformation and transfiguration.
In saintly mythologies and in the story of Jesus in Christian works, alongside other stories in Jewish and Islamic texts, transformation is an essential cornerstone which manifests through spiritual and physical changes. Jesus dies, is reborn, and is transfigured into his God image, St Perpetua becomes a man as they die, Adam and Eve are fundamentally changed when they eat the apple, etc. Saints often become saints through the change they cause through God on themselves and the world, so what is more saintly than changing ones sex? This is one of the central building blocks for Mann constructing this myth image of Eleanor Rykener as a patron saint of transgender women.
My favourite poem of the collection is "Eleanor and Rolandina In The City Of God", which consists of a conversation between Eleanor and another known historical example of a 14th century transgender woman and sex worker, Rolandina (they lived in Venice and was executed for sodomy). They comment together on their lives and sex, God, money, and Rolandina's death and it's such a well written poem. Other standouts from section 1 include:
Eleanor's Boast
Eleanor Among the Saints
Eleanor As a Sixteen Year Old Murdered Trans Girl, What is Known
Blood Sport
Section 2 I was less a fan of. It's still good, the poems are well written, but it's a lot more broad and centred largely on more standard Christian poetry, specifically Praise poems. I do like the ones that centre on Mann's relationship with her dad or on the landscape around her but it wasn't entirely what I was looking for after the first section. Standout Poems include:
Whitsun
Earth to Earth
Feast of the Epiphany
Fylde Coast Apocalyptic
Section 3 returns to transness in a more personal way for Mann, and these are some of the best poems. I can relate to a lot of them, I remember being so fascinated with change in the Bible when we studied it in religious class at school and the feelings of dysphoria and what it can do are definitely 100% relatable. "Seven Proof Texts on a Transitioned Body" is probably my favourite poem here, being the most personal in terms of how Mann relates her transness to her faith and tackles her dysphoria and the change she has carried out to combat it, but the 3 part "A Charm to Change Sex" is so good too whilst #TDOR (Trans Day of Remembrance) made me cry, the list of names is oh so long. Standout poems:
A Charm to Change Sex (1)
Seven Proof Texts on a Transitioned Body
A Charm to Change Sex (2)
#TDOR
A Charm to Change Sex (3)
Envoi
Overall, a really good collection of poetry. I don't think it'll work for a lot of people, it's definitely not gonna work for people who dislike or are ambivalent to poetry, and the Christian aspect will of course put people off, but I really enjoyed slowly working through a few poems a day with this and I'll probably reread a few over and over (also, they're pretty fun to read out for voice training, so affirming Rachel Mann, very cool!)
September 17, 2025
My rating does not reflect the quality of the collection, but rather the fact that I don't feel I'm the right audience for it (I read it as it was my poetry reading group's book for this month). Mann is a trans priest, so it makes complete sense that she would explore her identity through a religious lens. As someone not well versed in Christianity beyond what is common knowledge, I found that the Latin and numerous references to Christian history and theology meant that it was difficult for me to engage with the poems or fully grasp their meaning. I got frustrated with having to Google things so much and I couldn't get into what I was reading. I don't mind when I need to look up words or references when I'm reading – I love to learn – but there was SO much unknown to me in this collection that it didn't feel very accessible. Like I said, I'm not the intended audience.
March 20, 2024
This 'imaginary archive' as Mann puts it is so brilliantly thought out!!! When I opened the first page to a quote from The Book of Margery Kempe I instantly knew that I was going to enjoy this collection. Taking the little information we know about Eleanor from a document and using it to craft a narrative is something I'd like to take further and explore in relation to what I have recently been reading about auto-fiction. Looking forward to reading more :)
Read
October 14, 2024"Holy Mother, let us be translated
Into constituent parts. Do not be afraid -
If world without end, then glory too and
If glory then all our loves, all cries, longing,
For all things are held in You" (66).
Challenging with glimmers of the remarkable. Thoroughly scholarly yet intimate.
A kind of holy wrestling. It is a privilege to listen, to be a witness.
Into constituent parts. Do not be afraid -
If world without end, then glory too and
If glory then all our loves, all cries, longing,
For all things are held in You" (66).
Challenging with glimmers of the remarkable. Thoroughly scholarly yet intimate.
A kind of holy wrestling. It is a privilege to listen, to be a witness.
October 24, 2024
3.5 stars
really enjoyed the first and third section (and the last three poems were amazing), the middle not so much.
really enjoyed the first and third section (and the last three poems were amazing), the middle not so much.
September 17, 2025
This was just not for me. Usually, with poetry, I can understand the audience even if that is not necessarily me. This was just bizarre and highly pretentious.
September 15, 2024
Sort of felt like a nun at Matins or a herbswoman chanting over a brew, reading this aloud to myself. Luscious in words and archival enquiry - right up my street!
Eleanor Rykener makes a fascinating protagonist in these meditations on trans joy, but I found the most compelling idea put forth in this collection to be the parallels between the work of creating (as a seamstress, as a storyteller, and as a trans person).
Eleanor Rykener makes a fascinating protagonist in these meditations on trans joy, but I found the most compelling idea put forth in this collection to be the parallels between the work of creating (as a seamstress, as a storyteller, and as a trans person).
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews