Ancrene Wisse is a thirteenth-century work of guidance for female anchorites, or anchoresses. It was not written by a woman, but at the instigation and request of three women, sisters who had chosen the anchoritic life and were known to the author. Ancrene Wisse can be considered a collaborative work and the role of the women is acknowledged. A female readership is an embedded part of the text, with its domestic imagery and tropes from medieval Romance. The process of reading was itself interactive, requiring a response from the anchoress through prayer, self-examination, and a life of asceticism. It is clear that Ancrene Wisse was always intended to have a wider readership than the anchoresses for whom it was originally written; nevertheless, it remains at its heart a “Guide for Anchoresses.” Ancrene Wisse has become not only a guide to the devout, solitary life for the medieval readers but also a guide to anchoresses for modern readers.