Amy Jeffs' Saints is intended to bring some of the excitement and attention we have for retellings of folklore to hagiographies (stories telling the lives of saints). She's chosen a small sampling of all the possible stories and retold them, following each with some commentary on its context, meaning, etc. Most of them were unfamiliar to me (I've only studied a few Vitae, those which mention King Arthur), so the commentary was much-needed.

Jeffs' style in retelling the stories is rather personal, informal, sympathetic; she gets into the heads of the characters and has us inhabit them for a few moments, which I rather liked, though it's not usually how saints' stories get told. That's because she really is recounting them as folklore, as stories, rather than with belief -- which, for some readers, might not be acceptable, I'm sure.

I would personally have liked a bit more of the commentary, since I have a reasonable feel for what hagiographies are like, but I enjoyed it. The paper cut illustrations add something as well, I think, though I'm not the most visual person.