This is historical fiction only in the broadest sense of the word as it uses a historical figure (Marie de France) as an inspiration rather than filling in the blanks. (But who knows what her life really was like)
Marie is the illegitimate child of a French noble and, after her mother’s death, she is banned from her estate, to the English court. There, she is deemed too ugly, too tall, and is again banned to an impoverished abbey as prioress.
After she’s recovered from her shock of not being wanted and having to live in almost abject poverty, she takes action as the prioress position entitles her to do. She builds a prospering safe haven for women of all ranks and talents. It is a paradise men do not have access to.
This doesn’t sound like an interesting plot but Groff makes it into one.
I don’t care how far-fetched it is, I choose to believe that it was possible and that there really was such a place. It’s just that women could not tell the stories before.
As a bonus: Lauren Groff’s writing is so beautiful, I’d read anything she’s written.
‘Aging is a constant loss; all the things considered essential in youth prove with time that they are not. Skins are shed, and left at the roadside for the new young to pick up and carry on.’
