The king's niece Hild grows up bright, curious, and willful in this world of violence and mysticism.

Although her father has been assassinated, Hild survives to become an advisor to the king and ultimately to other major figures determining England's course in the Early Middle Ages.

[2] Griffith documented her research on her blog Gemæcce and during this process she began wondering about aspects of Hild's life not recorded historically, such as her likes, dislikes, and reasons for choosing specific actions.

[2][3] While writing the character Griffith posited that she had two types of close personal relationship with women outside of her immediate family: her sexual partner and her gemæcce.

Griffith created the grammatically feminine term gemæcce from the Old English masculine word gemæcca meaning "mate, equal, one of a pair, comrade, companion" and "husband or wife", which she repurposed to refer to a female friend and work partner.

"[6] Critical reception for Hild has been positive and many compared the work to Dame Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.

"So all this data falls on Hild to divulge, the whole tangle of little kingdoms, the people with names like Coelfrith... and Eadfrith..., the family feuds and the religious undercurrents..."[9] In contrast a reviewer for the Chicago Tribune wrote that the book had more in common with T. H. White's The Once and Future King and George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones than with Wolf Hall.

[10] Amal El-Mohtar gave the work high praise in an NPR article, writing "Hild is a book as loving as it is fierce, brilliant and accomplished.