Hargrave does it again, with a gorgeous and detailed historic fiction that deals with the struggles that women and LGBTQ people used to experience. Based on actual historic events, this book is grounded in reality which makes it that much more multidimensional.

This novel follows Lisbet, a pregant wife in sixteenth-century Strasbourg, as a dancing plague hits. The dancing plague, also called choreomania, was a real event. Lisbet has had many miscarriages, so she is cery worried about this pregnancy, plus her family’s bee-keeping is threatened by the church, and her long-exiled sister-in-law is returning home. Despite all of this, this felt like a quiet novel. The plotting was a bit strange with multiple, sudden climaxes, and the characters tended to make decisions for thr purposes of the plot.

The book is wonderfully written. The author's descriptive writing does well to illustrate the setting. I thought the writing of the perspective of the characters to be strong, but the language felt somewhat detached and I did not connect fully with the characters.

This book was slow to open but the middle and ending flew past. It's certainly far from a happy ending, but such were the lives of most medieval women, which this book focused on. I loved the breadth and variety of characters that Hargrave focused on, as well as the fact that she didn't try to speculate as to what had caused the dancing plague (at least, not from a medical standpoint). It is dark and definitely a frustrating, triggering read, but it is also a gripping read.

As someone who has lost five babies, THE DANCE TREE was both a hard and healing read. The writing was beautiful and I could feel the characters' emotions as if they were my own. Although the pacing felt off partway through, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book, and the ending was brutal and lovely at once.

** Thanks to NetGalley, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, and HarperVia for this ARC. The Dance Tree will be out in the US on March 14th, 2023 **

This was a stunning, breathtaking book. I am struggling to even write this review because I'm not sure how to do it justice. It was heartbreaking and infuriating and hopeful and lovely. I cannot recommend it enough.

The plot: Set in France, 1558, this novel follows Lizbet, a pregnant beekeeper who has already suffered 12 miscarriages. Her life has been marked by tragedy and the city she lives in, Strasbourg, is beset by starvation and misfortune. One summer day, a woman begins to dance. She is soon joined by hundreds of others, dancing in ecstasy and pain to the point of death. While this city-wide drama unfolds, so too does the drama of Lizbet's life, as she is forced to question everything she has ever thought about sin and love.

I have a new deep love and it is sapphic historical fiction. This book reminded me a lot of Lauren Groff's Matrix and Claire Heywood's Daughters of Sparta. The Dance Tree made me feel connected to all of the women who have ever lived and to the ways in which oppression, love, and sisterhood link us across generations. I would fully recommend this book to anyone.

A dancing plague, a pregnant beekeeper who's lost twelve babies, and a woman returned from six years penance for unknown sins are at the heart of this gorgeous historical fiction novel from the author of The Mercies. The dancing plague is more of a background set dressing than a feature. The real crux is the complicated relationships between the women in the novel who are surviving in a difficult century. Great read for historical fiction fans.