Visionary leader, queer lover, 12th-century writer ... the life of Marie de France is triumphantly reimagined in an assertively modern novel about female ambition and creativity... a highly distinctive novel of great vigour and boldness. <b>From mystical visions that may or may not be divine, to the earthy business of abbey pigs, diseases and account books, Groff does it all with purpose and panache</b>
Guardian
Groff's writing is muscular and precise, her themes wildly resonant. Women are dismissed and contained, subject to misogynist attacks and abuse, but gain power collectively - "alone, together". Shockingly, this message is as poignant today as it was, perhaps, 800 years ago
Sunday Times
A dazzlingly clever tale . . . gorgeously precise prose, always elegantly weighted and perfectly economical
The Times
<b>Pitch-perfect</b>
Telegraph
This is a remarkable novel: unusual, profound, transcendental
Evening Standard
It's a breathtaking novel
Financial Times
A <b>thrillingly vivid, adventurous story </b>about women and power that will blow readers' minds. <b>Left me gasping</b>.
- Emma Donoghue,
Fascinating, beguiling, vivid
- Marian Keyes on Twitter,
<b>Luminous, divine, her masterpiece</b>
- Daisy Johnson,
An<b> audacious piece of storytelling</b>, full of <b>passion</b>, <b>wisdom </b>and <b>magic</b>
- Sarah Waters,