Having previously enjoyed Groff’s Florida, I must say I was honoured to receive an ARC of Matrix, so thank you very much to NetGalley and Heinemann Hutchinson for the privilege!


There is a lyrical quality to Groff’s narrative that carried me seamlessly through Marie’s evocative, passionate life. I would agree that the style chosen is quite difficult to adjust to, and I would suggest you do have to be in a particular mood to focus on the novel - but once you do, the result is so rewarding. This isn’t a light novel you can pick up and read on a whim, but the atmosphere Groff creates is so transportive, I would definitely recommend the volume to any readers who enjoy historical fiction. As far as I am concerned, Marie might as well have been a real individual, and not just a finely-tuned character of Groff’s entrancing imagination.

Overall, though not entirely my favourite type of fiction, I can wholeheartedly appreciate Groff’s dazzling, breathless talent as a writer, and anyone interested in medieval, historical fiction will be swept away by Marie’s narrative.

There is an almost ethereal quality in the writing here - it draws the reader into almost a dream world peopled with finely drawn characters and settings, and a gently fluid plot, which all will the reader to continue. This is the story of French noblewoman Marie - large, ungainly and difficult, who is sent to a crumbling abbey in Angleterre in the 12th century. Eleanor of Aquitaine is on the throne, and is the great love of Marie’s life. From such an unpromising start, Marie transforms the abbey and its nuns into one of the great religious houses in England. She is not without burning ambition, or without her detractors, but the women of the abbey see her as their saviour, even if some of her greater schemes cause dissension amongst them. On a deeper level, this book is a paean to feminism, with its undertones of female sexual desire and Marie’s extraordinary visions seeing god as a woman - heretic of course, especially in a religious world where men had all the power. This is a moving, deeply provoking book and I am bereft that I have finished reading it.

Marie is quite the character.
Too rough and ungainly for court,she is sent to an Abbey that's been run into the ground,leaving the nuns on point of starvation.
That's the starting point of the story,that continues for decades.
I enjoyed it,the life at the Abbey,glimpses of Marie's life before and her longing for it,but at times it felt a bit stilted. A list of sentences rather than a story.

Mostly though,it was interesting.

I did enjoy this book and when it is published I will buy it to read again. One reason for this is that I don't feel I got the full experience from reading the ARC which my version was almost impossible to read
I loved Marie as a character and her story drew me in. Very different from my usual reads I was looking forward to reading it. Historical fiction is becoming a favourite.
Lauren Groff has written a well crafted book that is very atmospheric and you can almost feel yourself at the Abbey with the nuns and the hardships they faced. When I read this book again I think my star rating will be higher

Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, yet too coarse, too wild, too rough-hewn for 12th-century courtly life, Marie de France is cast from the royal court. To her dismay, she is sent to the muddy fields of Angleterre to take up her new duty as the prioress of an impoverished abbey. The abbey is a dreadful place: its inhabitants are on the brink of starvation, beset by disease, stoic and stern, yet plagued with an unholy tendency to gossip. Marie cannot help but pine for the decadence and comfort of France; her secret lover Cecily, her queen Eleanor, and the very court that had spited her. Yet Marie soon realises that, though she may be tied to a life of duty, she wields more power than she could have imagined.

The novel will lift you up, break your heart, make you cheer, and make you mourn for the characters that go in and out of Marie' life. The writing is clever and Groff's ability to transport you through time is incredible. I could almost feel myself sweating and labouring next to the nuns as they built new structures for their abbey.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.