3.5 stars

Well-written historical fiction based on true events; a survival story of some brave, not oft remembered women who stood up for themselves in the face of humiliation, mistreatment, misogyny, danger, & intimidation.

[What I liked:]

•The art is beautiful (the front page, at the start of chapters, the family tree sketch, etc.), and it fits with the botanical theme of the story.

•Easy to read prose, and at times it’s even lovely.

•It’s nice to have a novel set in the early Middle Ages (6th C. CE) in Europe, especially one featuring women characters. I do like later medieval era settings, but there are many more of those.

•There is a strong sense of place & time depicted, especially of the natural world (nature is very important to the MC’s identity & self awakening).

•The shift towards pushing women out of leadership in the Roman Catholic Church is an interesting subject to me, and while few details are known of how/why it happened it’s cool to read about it in a novel from the perspective of some of the women who were caught up in the difficulties of that transition.

•I also enjoyed exploring the other complexities of how religion & culture influenced each other that this book highlights: the tension between coexisting Christian & pagan beliefs, the varying shades of gray of syncretism, the competition between different sects of Christianity (specifically Arianism vs. Roman Catholicism), and the power struggles between the church leaders & the kings.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•There is a bit too much background summary at the beginning of the book, and at certain other points, for my taste. It would feel smoother if these details were blended into the narrative more subtly instead of resorting to info dumping.

•The villains are a bit one-dimensional, & I had a hard time fully grasping the reasons for how mean & cruel they are. Maroveus is envious, okay...but he still has so much more power than the women at Holy Cross; why does he feel such a need to crush them completely? Lebover’s motives are a bit more nuanced & understandable, but I really don’t understand why Justina was so mean; what did she stand to gain by creating enemies of the sisters? It was never explained.

•Clotild does a whole lot of blaming herself for everything. I think there’s a fine line between acknowledging one’s flaws & failures, and becoming a martyr to the cause of everyone’s misery. Sometimes her attitude came off a bit patronizing, since she thinks it’s her job to save everyone from everything. By the middle of the book I was tired of her self-pitying, self-flagellating inner monologue.

•I’m glad Clotild got her happy ending, but it was a bit rushed in the epilogue. The explanation of how she rebuilt her life was clear as a sequence of events, but not *what* her purpose and mission were that led her there. Since all throughout the book she’d been hinting at how she found this amazing life purpose & destiny, I’d have liked to see more of what that was to her besides gardening, & more of what that personally meant to her!

•A minor quibble, but there are inconsistencies with measurement terminology. Distance is described in miles, leagues, & kilometers. Leagues & miles were terms that existed in the 6th C, but kilometer is a modern (late 18th C & later) measure of distance, definitely an anachronism the editors should have caught.

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

In a 6th century church in Gaul, sword-wielding nuns confronted battled-trained soldiers for better living conditions in their convent…


After the death of Sister Agnes, everyone in the Holy Cross convent is expecting Sister Clotild to be selected as the new abbess. After all, was a favorite of Sister Agnes and the convent’s founder Queen Radegund. But Bishop Maroveus intervenes in the selection process and chooses Sister Lebover as the next abbess.

Under Sister Lebover’s rule, the nuns under her care are starving and cold while the abbess enjoys the best meals. The once welcoming convent turns into a nightmarish place where nuns prefer to take their own lives before continuing to live there. Sister Clotild decides to ask the king (her uncle) to help the nuns. But the king’s help never arrives.

So, what’s left for the nuns to do after they have asked politely for help? That’s right. Rebel. The church (read: the men in power) already considered them “rebellious and troublesome” so why not act that way and defend what they believe in?


This was a very informative book. I didn’t know a lot about this time in history.

The Rebel Nun was a thrilling, exciting and informational read. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was my style, but as I began to read I could NOT put it down.

I didn’t realize, upon reading it, that some of the book was historically accurate and that Clotild, Basina, and some of the other vital characters were real individuals in the early 500s. I think this makes the story that much more interesting.

There are so many aspects to this book that I loved. Clotild’s competing piousness to her pagan religion and Christianity, her battle of self righteousness and humility, her fight to be a leader and not have self doubt, and her need to protect her sisters while still preserving her own sanity were all themes that drove the book forward. I think that Clotild’s character truly represented a woman who is fighting for independence but for all of the right reasons.

Many of the characters in the book truly interested me such as Covina and Desmona. I feel that the characters were so realistic and relatable and each had their own distinguishable and admirable characteristics.

This story really had it all: action, romance, women’s rights, historical aspects, and themes that outlast time and will always be relevant. I highly recommend this read to anyone who is a history buff- particularly for Medieval times, anyone who enjoys reading books with a religious spin, female readers, and those who like an action-packed story.

I dont see a very large audience for this book. I came across this book looking for titles similar to Revelations by Mary Sharratt. I felt Revelations was a much better work and had a wider appeal than The Revel Nun. So few patrons read historical literary fiction with a religious theme (as opposed to the Christian fiction genre) that I would not buy two such similar books.

I enjoyed this debut about a woman who leads her fellow nun in a rebellion against a venal and cruel leader against the larger backdrop of women’s changing role in the medieval Christian church. The writing is clear and we get a good picture of Clotild’s inner life. The author mentions Pope Joan in her note at the end of the book, and it truly is a perfect read alike.

“The story of our struggle will end only when our kingdom is no longer at the mercy of the patriarchy and the church, the matriarchy flourishes anew, and pagan traditions are again celebrated across the land with impunity.”

The Rebel Nun is a unique and gripping novel, one that explores a rarely-covered sliver of history. Clotild is the bastard daughter of a Merovingian king living as a nun at an abbey called Holy Cross. Throughout her cloistering, the Church has become increasingly male-dominated, with the sisters losing more of their autonomy as the years pass. The outwardly pious Clotild harbors an inner affection for the pagan beliefs of her mother, and her frustration with the Church drives her farther from her holy vows. She eventually leads a rebellion of her fellow nuns, petitioning for the respect and dignity they deserve as not only brides of Christ, but as human beings.

Charlier has done an astounding amount of research, drawing on an extremely limited source biased against her central character. The way she fleshes out a complex family tree and political environment is admirable, and I appreciated her empowering take on 6th century gender politics and religious structures.

[4/5: An interesting work that centers women on the margins of early medieval history, and a great example of historical fiction that will resonate with contemporary audiences.]

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was brilliant! Something different and completely enthralling, and I don’t say that often. I wished it had been a lot longer.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and author Marj Charlier for providing me with an ARC of the novel The Rebel Nun.

This was such a unique work of historical fiction; I really, really enjoyed it! Any story that tells the tale of women who stand up and speak out, especially during a time period when they were supposed to be incredibly silent, is a story for me. This was a little unknown sliver of history to me and the author did a gorgeous job of bringing it to light. I was captivated until the very end! I was not ready to reach the last page.

Thank you again to those that allowed me to read and review this ARC!

If there's one thing we need now, it's brave stories of women of bygone years who stood up to forces of evil who never got their stories told in their lifetimes--even if they didn't all get the happy endings we wanted them to. I loved this story. Clotild is a nun in a monastery outside of Poitiers in the late 6th century. This is a period of upheaval for France--the Church is wrestling with deepening its roots into French religious culture of the period. You don't need to be a historical theologian to appreciate Clotild's story of bravery as she attempts to free herself and her fellow nuns from the oppressive abbess and her prioress, facing unimaginable treachery and stumbling blocks. Based on a true story of the Monastery of the Cross outside Poitiers, France, I was glad I picked this one up. Historical fiction fans, rejoice!

The Monastery of the Holy Cross was once the most prestigious royal monastery in Gaul (Western Europe) of the early Middle Ages, “populated largely by Frankish women of royal and noble birth…” The monastery started declining after a rebellion of nuns against the rising misogyny and patriarchy of the medieval church. This story is based on the true story of Clotild, the rebel nun.

Poitiers, 588 AD. Sister Clotild of the Holy Cross Monastery is a witness to drastically changing approach toward women, who “were declared unclean, and (..) were prohibited from touching the sacramental objects. Priests could no longer sleep with their wives…”

Clotild is illegitimate daughter of King Charibert and with her curious mind as a child she was allowed to study alongside her half-brothers. She learned the purpose of different herbs from her mother. She was expected to be the next abbess, but that’s not what happens.

Under the new abbess controlled by a bishop, whatever joy the sisters were allowed to have gets eroded. Despite the cold, the bishop cuts the rations of wood and food. Thus, the first plans for escape spark the nighttime conversations.

The routine of prayer and work satisfied Clotild in the way it absorbed the hours of the day. But the cloistered life under the new abbess and the controlling bishop leaves her bereft of purpose. And that’s when she starts questioning the purpose of life. Before she saw purpose in reading and copying old manuscripts, deepening intellectual curiosity with classics and philosophy. That is what she considered a life worth living. Now, there is only gnawing left.

In the 6th century Europe, women’s choices were very limited. Many of them entered the monastery to escape marriages and the danger of childbearing, not for their piety. As a woman, you had three choices: marriage, prostitution, or the cloister.

Clotild is a truly remarkable heroine and fully captured in this story. She enters the cloister willingly to seek protection for her uncertain future. She adapts to the simple life and under the right tutelage finds some joy in daily tasks. But with the new abbess, when the little joy she was allowed to have is squished out of her life and constant hunger reminds her of her existence and when she sees wrong-doing such as thievery, adultery, gluttony. What do you do? Do you just close your eyes and accept the corruption. No, she is an inspirational character who refuses to stand by and watch the values of Christianity crumble to the ground. She stands up for what she believes is right.

I applaud authors who shed light on little known pockets of history. Not only that, but the craft of weaving such poignant story and illuminating with such beautiful prose, I’m full of admiration and grateful for such authors. This gem of historical fiction, penned by a very talented writer is the kind of story that makes this genre very fascinating.

Brilliantly written. The voice of Clotild pulled me into the story from her first words. I was very captivated by her story, wanting to know what happens next, when the tipping point comes, how she handles the rebellion and how it ends. The setting is very real, you can feel the cold walls of the cloister and the simple life they experience with some hunger; and how that affects them. The feelings of disappointment, shame, starvation and isolation are very real as well. But there is still a glimpse of hope that fairness would prevail.

This is one of those moving stories that when the end comes you’re not ready to part from this heroine and this gifted writing.

It took me about two weeks to finish this novel. It wasn’t bad, but it’s not going to force you to stay up late at night just to see how it ends. The Rebel Nun is something different and it was definitely a well-written and well-researched book.

This was a unique and enjoyable historic fiction. I loved that it was based on a historic woman who stood up and spoke out at a time when women, nuns especially, were supposed to be quiet and subservient. Clotild was the daughter of a king and a slave, sent to a convent after her father's death to protect her from his wives and their children. When the bishops decided to star interfering at the convent and take much of the nun's power away from them because they were women, it resulted in the nun's near starvation and a suicide within the convent. Clotild decided that she could not sit by and allow things to unravel as they were, so she gathered together many of her sisters and defied the vows she had taken to strike off in to the world and try to attain justice and better living conditions for the women she shared her life with. This was a good historic fiction, and quite enjoyable. I love a story about a woman who doesn't do what men tell her to, It seemed a little slow at times, but there were enough twists and drama to keep me interested.