Top 5 books about mystics and mysticism, chosen by Victoria MacKenzie

Dazzling by Chikodili Emelumadu

An incredible debut novel about two girls on the cusp of womanhood in Nigeria. Treasure meets a spirit who promises to return her missing father, but there’s a price to pay. Ozoemena is battling with a leopard inside her that’s threatening to take her over. A vivid, compelling and original take on West African mysticism. 

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

Dickinson is one of the supreme mystic poets writing in English. Her poems are concerned with, death, God, the soul, animal spirits, mysticism and immortality. Her style is both compressed and explosive – and utterly unique. 

Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen

An intense, lyrical novel about a young nun whose claim to have holy visions divides her community. A strange but beautiful book about faith, mysticism and doubt.

The Dancing Plague by Gareth Brookes

A graphic novel that tells the true story of a dancing plague that afflicted a town in Strasbourg in 1518. Brookes uses a blend of his own “pyrographic” techniques and embroidery to create unusual and beautiful images. 

The Book of Revelation (The Bible)

Eat your heart out, William Burroughs – this is as trippy and visionary as it gets. 

For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy On My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie is out now (Bloomsbury, £14.99). You can buy it, and some of these other titles from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.

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