Wyuen Pyne: A Reckoning of Women’s Voices by Jean G-Owen
Wyuen Pyne (14th-Century, meaning ‘women’s punishment’) answers back as a hybrid of poetry, prose, image and herstory. It reimagines the women who said ‘no’: silenced by scolds’ bridles, stretched on racks, rewritten and written over by the male pen. Lilith, Anne Askew, Beatrice Cenci, Molly Bloom, and many others: their voices rise in a reckoning that resonates in our times. Buy your copy here.
How I did it
The title of the book means ‘women’s punishment’. Pronounced ‘wivven pine’, it comes from the famous 14th-Century poem 'Piers Plowman' by William Langland. The book traces the instruments of women’s oppression through the ages – including the ducking stool, scold’s bridle and shrew’s fiddle – all the ways women were silenced and held up to ridicule for being too quarrelsome, too loud, too rebellious; who said ‘no’ to the status quo. I take the objects in turn and develop a creative response to each one, which might be a poem, a piece of fiction, a scripture, many different types of writing. Each piece of creative writing is accompanied by a prose essay explaining its historical context, and a specially commissioned pen-and-ink illustration by Karl Whitmore, in a style that imitates old lino cuts. That’s one of his illustrations on the cover. The book was inspired by an event to mark the millennium in Leominster in Herefordshire, which is the town where I grew up. For some reason, the priory church in the town kept an original ducking stool on display in its northern aisle. This was the church I was christened in; I grew up seeing that stool. As a child I was haunted by the thought of that terrible punishment. The Leominster ducking stool was allegedly the last stool ever used – in 1809 – to immerse a woman called Jenny Pipes in the River Kenwater. Jenny had complained about her husband’s ill-treatment and her brother-in-law reported her to the local magistrates. To mark the millennium, the council commissioned a new clock for the town square, with an effigy of Jenny Pipes on the ducking stool, which ducks her in time to the chiming of the hour. They thought it was just a bit of fun, a reminder of a ‘harmless tradition’ that would attract visitors to the town – which it does of course. But I was so angry that I decided to write about it – and that piece of writing gradually morphed over the years into the Wyuen Pyne project. I moved away from Leominster years ago, but the news of that clock brought it all back to me: the horror I felt as a child, and the way women are still being silenced and ridiculed today – hence the subtitle of the book. It was launched in November 2025, with a tour of local bookshops on the Isle of Wight, where I now live, and on the mainland. It’s also available from the website of my publishing company, and from Amazon. This summer I’ll be performing some pieces from the book, wearing an actual scold’s bridle and a replica shrew’s fiddle that I’ve had made, at the Ventnor Fringe, which is a summer arts festival on the Isle of Wight, 17-26 July.
JEAN G-OWEN runs Naked Figleaf Press, an independent publisher, and its imprint Figmentum Books. She also edits The Figlet, a community-based literary magazine, and Figmentum Folio, a digital literary magazine. In the past she worked in higher education as an academic editor, lecturer, and creative facilitator. Prior to that she studied Comparative Literature, Women’s Writing, and Cultural Studies, eventually completing a PhD.
Are you interested in seeing your book on the Mslexia Noticeboard and being interviewed for the How I Did It feature with editor Debbie Taylor? Email joanne@mslexia.co.uk for more details.
The Author
