Matrix - Lauren Groff

 

 

 This was one of those books that seemed to pop up all over social media and was lauded by people whose opinion I respect and trust. So I was delighted to snaffle this edition from my local library. I’m the first person to read this copy and I feel a disproportionate sense of pleasure from that!

Little is known of Marie de France other than her possible presence at the court of Henry II and the fact that she wrote poetry. She wrote in Francien which is a Parisian dialect and suggests that Paris was the part of France she hailed from. Apparently her writings made it clear that she spent much of her life living in England.

Naturally if she was present at the court of Henry II she was known to the King’s wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine who features prominently in Groff’s masterful imagining of Marie’s life. With little in the way of concrete, historical evidence about Marie to go on Groff has given rein to her own imagination. An imagination where romantic inclinations on Marie‘s part towards Eleanor engulf Marie for the whole of the book.

The book offers us a 17-year-old Marie exiled to a rundown and struggling abbey. The nuns are ailing and hungry. Marie turns things around and the abbey flourishes. So much so that the success may even be a threat to its inmates. Marie holds it all together resolutely and Groff offers us a sense of a strong, determined woman.

I suppose the core of the novel is a feminist one and indeed Groff’s dedication is to “…. all my sisters“ and it is indeed a glorious celebration of female triumph against all the odds and the sense of pulling together to achieve what might seem daunting initially. 

Groff’s writing is substantial, evocative and intelligent, conveying the essence of life in a 12th century religious order. Whilst research on Marie herself may have been limited the attention to detail of monastic life and abbey protocol demonstrates extensive research. There is a sense of controlled, thoughtful, composed writing which seems to mirror some aspects of Marie‘s personality. A latent sense of power too, hides beneath much of the narrative. Although Marie dominates and rightly so, Groff’s other characters are potent, especially Eleanor of whom we know a great deal more than Marie certainly in terms of historical evidence. 

Perhaps because I read it recently I was reminded J R Thorp’s Learwife not just because a nunnery provides the location but the same substance and intelligence inhabits both narratives.

This book has been shortlisted for a couple of awards and apparently Barack Obama cited it as one of his favourite reads of 2021. That’s quite an endorsement.