Matrix by Lauren Groff

I really enjoyed this historically anchored story of drama and conceit that occurs within the walls of a medieval convent. I know it is not for everyone, but this is a very frustrated feminist from a thousand years ago that is pretty relatable to today, I am sad to say. Marie de France is an actual person. a mysterious figure, a poet whose visionary lays and magical fables, written in Francien, a medieval dialect of Old French, are complex, sensual and self-lacerating. Groff has read these mystical poems and what limited historical records exist, and has fashioned a life for Marie. We first meet our ungainly heroine aged 17, as she is cast out of her home; the illegitimate half-sister of Eleanor of Aquitaine, she is sent to a nunnery in England. She leaves behind the servant girl whose “frank and knowing body” provided Marie with endless pleasure. She is near-mad with love for her half-sister, whose presence lies heavily over her adolescent mind. She proves herself worthy of her famed sister, and creates a full and meaningful life from almost nothing--it is a book that covers her life and death in full, and I enjoyed it. This was short listed for the National Book Award in 2021, despite all it's idiosyncrasies.