u003cbu003eu003cbu003eu003cbu003eu003cbu003eu003cbu003eAN INSTANT u003ciu003eNEW YORK TIMESu003c/iu003e BESTSELLERu003cbru003eu003cbru003eWINNER OF THE 2022 JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZEu003cbru003eu003cbru003e FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTIONu003cbru003eu003cbru003eOne of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2021u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eNamed a Best Book of the Year by u003ciu003eThe New York Timesu003c/iu003e, u003ciu003eThe Washington Postu003c/iu003e, u003ciu003eTIMEu003c/iu003e, NPR, u003ciu003eThe Financial Timesu003c/iu003e, u003ciu003eGood Housekeepingu003c/iu003e, u003ciu003eEsquireu003c/iu003e, Vulture, u003ciu003eMarie Claireu003c/iu003e, Vox, u003ciu003eThe Los Angeles Times, USA Todayu003c/iu003e and more!u003cbru003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e“A relentless exhibition of Groff’s freakish talent. In just over 250 pages, she gives us a character study to rival Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell .” – u003ciu003eUSA Todayu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e u003cbru003e u003cbu003e“An electric reimagining . . . feminist, sensual . . . unforgettable.” – u003ciu003eO, The Oprah Magazineu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e u003cbru003e u003cbu003e“Thrilling and heartbreaking.” –u003ciu003eTime Magazineu003cbru003eu003cbru003e u003c/iu003e“[A] page-by-page pleasure as we soar with her.” u003ciu003e–New York Timesu003cbru003eu003c/iu003eu003cbru003e One of our best American writers, Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking u003ciu003eFates and Furiesu003c/iu003e.u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003c/bu003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003eCast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.u003cbru003eu003cbru003e At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie’s vision be bulwark enough?u003cbru003eu003cbru003e Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, u003ciu003eMatrixu003c/iu003e gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff’s new novel, her first since u003ciu003eFates and Furiesu003c/iu003e, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.
