In Medieval Bruge, Aleys found her devotion in seeking God. At a young age, she was exposed to religious stories and prayers through her mother. Due to an unexpected loss, she was forced to take on a maternal role in the family. Until one day, misfortune fell in her father’s business and she was forced to marry the head of the guild as an attempt to gain a foothold in the thriving wool industry. Torn between family loyalty and her insatiable thirst for God, she had to make a decision. Marry for wealth or marry her God?

In a time where women were not equally treated and respected as men, Aleys was an exceptional character where she defied societal norms and expectations. Her rebellious nature can be excused for thirst for knowledge. Her decision to leave for the brotherhood instead of marry was justified with her search for God. Where women’s agency wasn’t even heard of, this historical fiction gives a glimpse of what women had to endure in the face of a patriarchal society and a corrupt church and government. With what little agency Aleys had, she showed grace and confidence. Even when she was doomed by the very men she trusted, she chose the higher ground. And that what makes her such a great heroine in this story.

You will find yourself immersed in the story of a young girl fervently fighting for what she loved even if it means sacrificing everything.

Canticle is such a rare gem in the book industry where everyone is shouting to be heard (or read) these days. Janet’s writing shines throughout and her characters come to life. I could not put it down. This should be your next read!

5 Stars! I kept checking to be sure this was a debut novel because it was so polished and easy to immerse myself in the reading!

Excellent novel for:
Book Clubs
Historical Fiction lovers
Medieval time period fans.
people interested in Religious orders "back in the day"
Spoiler free review- because Spoilers are just.. NOT IT.

Readers dive into the 13th century Bruges where wealth is measured in wool and social station is highly prized and protected. We meet Aleys- a young girl who's prone to visions and deep passionate feelings, specifically related to the church. I'm unclear if she would have been prone to religiousity in a different time or if that was simply because that was what she had exposure to in her sheltered life. Her only exposure to books is her Mother's richly illustrated psalter which Aleys covets.
Aleys is smart, passionate, and also stubborn and proud. On the eve of her wedding (which would secure her and her families social standing) she runs to join a religious order. There she is tasked with an almost impossible seeming task and to make progress she must reexamine many of her notions about others, God, and her place in society. Change is afoot in the religious community and forces greater than Aleys and her local religious organizations are at play. Aleys must confront her place within this complex situation and, like all young people, make the choices that will determine her life.

As a novel, this book does move at a leisurely pace, with a lot of room for Aleys, and the reader to reflect on religion, prayer, and community. (It is not a religious book, but a book about persons who were highly involved in the religious life at the time- so readers be assured, this is not a religious propaganda type of novel at all.) I found I enjoyed it best by absorbing a few chapters at a time.

Strengths of this novel are the richly detailed descriptions of life in that time period, and the insight into the Catholic church in that time period. I often felt as if I could step right into the Beguine's dormitory, or touch the wool prepared for the market. As a non-Catholic, the explanations regarding different orders and roles flowed easily and did not feel didactic. Aleys herself is a compelling character, though I can't say she is particularly loveable, she was peculiar and interesting and I did want to read on to see how things would play out for her and the community. This is an excellent read for book clubs as historical fiction is very book club popular, and this is a unique time period that isn't well represented in the historical fiction landscape.

This book is scheduled to come out in December, just in time for holiday gifting! While I have an electronic copy (Thank you to Spiegel and Grau and Net Galley for the advance reader copy) I suspect this one may make it on to my wish list. (I'm on an economical book buying ban, but I know I can use all the holidays and birthdays for book hauls!!! Hint hint!)

Amazing book! I was hooked from the beginning and it has something like a mystery on it that makes you stay to keep reading at once

I’ve been reading a lot of romance lately because I’ve been reading for escapism. This book was definitely not an escapist fantasy or a romance, but I really enjoyed it. To me this had the feel of Outlander, but without romance. Just very well written historical fiction.
I really like books that give a lot of information about topics I don’t know anything about-especially when all of the information doesn’t make the story less interesting, but richer. I would recommend this book for lovers of historical fiction. I love the feminist tone the story took as well.

This book was a great look into a period in history and place that we do not often see in fiction as well as a point of view that is unusual. Aleys is a sixteen year old girl in medieval Bruges who leaves home and becomes a religious sister to both fulfill a calling she feels on her life, and to avoid an arranged marriage. The circumstances lead to her live in a community of women society has long scorned and misunderstood, and she finds her long held beliefs challenged and refined. I found Aleys to not be a particularly likable character but her growth throughout the story redeemed her. The glimpse into the politics of the medieval church was also interesting. This book is written in an interesting style with revolving points of view so you can see all the things at work in the characters lives.

Canticle tells the story of Aleys, a Flemish teen in Bruges in the 13th century, who learned of the Saints from her mother and learns Latin in order to be able to read her mother's cherished psalter. When her mother dies and her father arranges a marriage for her, Aleys flees her home for the church, where she tells Father Lukas that she would like to become a female Franciscan monk. She is placed by Lukas in the Begijnhof, a community where the beguines live, women who are not nuns but take a vow of chastity and who help the poor while leading religious lives - which means that the Church fathers consider them troublesome. Aleys eventually becomes an anchorite, a religious recluse living in a small room off of the church, where she is free to spend her days in prayer. I can't say more without giving away some major spoilers but I can say that I enjoyed the novel. This novel is Janet Rich Edwards' first, which surprised me. Her writing style is beautiful - she was able to make me see Aleys as a mystic and seer rather than a religious nut case! And her descriptions made me want to learn more about the role of women during that time period. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel.
#CampNetGalley

Wow! Another phenomenal and inspiring story about a woman suffering at the hands of men. Plus, there’s an orange cat.

I greatly appreciated walking with Aleys through her journey with faith. Her story is the unfortunate reality of many in medieval times who were tried and convicted for crimes that may not have been their own. I also enjoyed the perspectives of the Bishop and the Friar, as repulsive as some of their positions are. It goes to show that the truth can be subjective at times.

I’d really like to point out the criticisms of the medieval Catholic Church. I’m always baffled that people genuinely believed the word of God should only be consumed in Latin which was already a dead language at the time this story takes place. It always makes me grateful that God’s word is so accessible now.

ARC Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Canticle by Janet Rich Edward is a captivating debut novel set in 13th-century Bruges, following a bold young woman named Aleys as she flees an arranged marriage and finds refuge with a community of independent religious women. As she explores faith, freedom, and love. Aleys becomes entangled in political and spiritual upheaval that tests her convictions and courage. I loved the strong female relationship within the Canticle, both within the central female character's relationship with herself and the other women around her. I loved this book because it highlights how women had to go outside the patriarchal narrative about Catholicism. The character arc Aley's goes through is wonderful it made me reflect on my own arc with Catholicism. I loved the strong female relationships throughout this book.

As someone still learning about medieval terminology, I found the words used challenging because I had no background in medieval times religion, but it got easier as I read more of the book.

Overall, this was such a delight to read that I would recommend it to readers who love historical fiction, with some underlying mystical undertones. Thank you, Spigel and Grau, for providing this book for review via NetGallery. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings: sexual assault, death, and misogyny

I visited Brugge in Belgium last April. I was excited to read a book about Brugge and the women who lived there. I did enjoy the book, but it is not what I thought it would be centered around. This, of course, is more about my preferences than the author/book. I thought it was well written and it did give much information about how women lived and were treated back in medieval times.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this novel. It was beautifully written, but unfortunately not really my cup of tea in the end.

This is a terrific book that I really enjoyed.

This is the story of Aleys, a young 13th c. Flemish girl who is dedicated to God. She runs away from her family to escape a marriage of convenience, and finds herself tied to Father Lukas, a Franciscan friar, who is looking for a young, charismatic woman to bring women to his order. And he thinks he's found her in Aleys.

At first I didn't like Aleys. She is stubborn and frankly selfish. When she runs away from her marriage on the eve of her wedding, she gives little thought to what this will do to her father and her family.

She finds herself in a commune of women, the Beguines, because she refuses to go into a convent. She is willful and disobedient. She doesn't want to join the Beguines because they are viewed as wanton women. But what they are are independent women.

Aleys does not want to have her life choices dictated to her by men. And that's the part of the book that is the most interesting to me. So many men want to tell her what to do: her father, her fiance, her confessor, and Jaan, Lukas's brother and the Bishop of their town, with very high aspirations within the church, who will do whatever he wants to get his way.

But she finds a community of women who don't allow these men to dictate their choices. And this is where Aleys finds what she's been looking for.

Without going into too much more detail, I will say the historical aspects, the political aspects, were well done. But the feminism in this book is what really piqued and held my interest. I honestly would have loved more within the Beguine's compound! Although I found the ending dragged just a little, it was a satisfying ending.

I was incredibly excited for this book as the subject matter - Beguine communities- is one I'm really interested in. Unfortunately, this was a DNF at about 20%. The choppy sentence structures and the writing technique really frustrated me and could not keep my attention.

"Canticle" by Janet Rich Edwards
4⭐

"Let her be God's child, then," he says. "She's no longer mine."

Aleys is 16 and infatuated with faith. Pursuing that passion leads her through interesting experiences and relationships. Some for good, some for bad, but always for growth and God.

This story took a little time to lock me in and I suspect that's because of the writing. As an example:
"The smell of his death is ripe and sweet in her nose, too much, so she sips the air, tiny sips of death and prayer."

While often rich, sometimes the descriptions seem to run away with themselves. It can become cumbersome and wordy.

Something about the multiple perspective shifting didn't quite work for me. It is necessary for the plot. Absolutely. It just feels jarring.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC.

I'd recommend this to my fellow magical realism girlies. Fans of Practical Magic in particular might enjoy this one.

Available December 2, 2025
#Bookstagram #Canticle #JanetRichEdwards #MagicalRealism #Historical #Feminism #ARC #NetGalley #CampNetGalley #Books #BookReview

Canticle is the story of Aleys, a young woman meant for God in 13th century Flanders. It’s a story of women just trying to BE and all the men who refuse to let them. It was an interesting glimpse into a new culture for me and I enjoyed learning about the Beguines. I thought the character growth was believable and the story did take some unexpected turns to get Aleys to her conclusion. I think if you enjoy beautiful prose and have ties to religion you will enjoy this book!

I really enjoyed this book! If you're a fan of Illuminations by Mary Sharratt or The Greenest Branch by P.K. Adams, you will love this story. Detailed and deliciously true to the period. If you're interested in a great read and would love to enter the world of a strong-willed medieval woman, this is the book you're looking for. Compelling.

“Fear is first cousin to reverence.” - The Bishop. Such is the motto of the Catholic Church in medieval Flanders.

This story is written with such beautiful prose it reads like a song. Not a hymn in praise of righteous religion, but a ballad to the women who fight for the freedom to live outside the narrow confines set by men. Born in Bruges, Aleys is the teen daughter of a draper who arranges her betrothal in order to save the family financially. Desiring a life that transcends the typical marriage, Aleys runs away to join the local friars and devote herself to God.

The characters in this story are so well developed, layered and complex, with emotions and motivations that range from relatable to extreme. We have a bishop who is apathetic toward God and preys on people’s faith to further his political ambitions, and the friar who is so obsessed with God he borders on being unhinged. Aleys is caught like a prize in a tug of war between their opposing goals, yet somehow manages to transcend their self serving schemes. There are the Beguines, a spiritual group of women not accountable to the church, who offer Aleys a loving community and home. Then there is Marte, a woman who questions the morality of sacred biblical stories with such blunt practicality that I can’t help but laugh. No one person is fully villainized or infallible.

While religion features heavily, it is neither endorsed nor condemned. This is ultimately a story of oppression and revolution with religion being the weapon the Church uses to keep the masses subdued. The heroes are the women who have few choices in their lives, with blessing and heartache resulting from the few precious choices they do have in a world run by men. The duality between following personal desires versus what will benefit the greater good is carefully and painfully explored. No choice is innately wrong, but the consequences are far reaching.

I am in awe of the exquisite writing, the humanity of the characters, and objective portrayals of desire and love. There are passages that made me laugh, some where I cried, and times when I was both horrified and inspired. What an astounding debut!

5/5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel and Brau for this eArc. All opinions are my own.

Canticle takes us along the religious journey of Aleys, an intriguing FMC filled with certainty, resolve, and passion. We watch her navigate through a world both unwilling to accept a woman as a religious figurehead, and also desperate for her to heal them. This book did an exceptional job representing how life would have been for women, not just in Aleys's shoes, but in general.

Not only do we watch significant character growth in Aleys through the novel, we see those around her grow and change, often in a way that made me feel nostalgic as a reader. Due to Aleys's choices in following her devout path, others around her pass her by, and when she is reunited with them, the passage of time is often a little heartbreaking. We also see several characters transform for the worse - becoming obsessive, changed, and dark.

The character growth in this novel was extremely well done, with each change feeling believable and natural, no matter how ominous. I really enjoyed Janet Rich Edward's writing style. Her descriptive, rich prose plunked me right down in the setting, and I could envision each chapter playing out vividly in my mind.

The pacing felt a little slow to me throughout the book, however, the ending had me on the edge of my seat, wishing I could jump into the book and save a few of my favorite characters from their fates.

What is a 'Canticle', you may say? It's a a hymn or chant, typically with a biblical text, forming a regular part of a church service. I've probably recited them many times as a kid during church, but never knew what they were called.

An impressive debut historical novel set in 13th century Bruges, it introduces Aleys, a sixteen-year-old visionary, who is bright, stubborn, and conversant in Latin, studied in secret alongside her only friend, Finn. When her father promises her in marriage to a merchant she does not love, Aleys rebels by joining a community of beguines, independent religious women who live outside formal Church authority. As Aleys embraces spiritual and bodily autonomy, she navigates mystical experiences, rising miracles, and political danger that threaten her fragile world.

It all starts out when Aleys becomes obsessed with the characters in her mothers' book of Psalms, called Psalter. She's mesmerized by the bright colors, strange fruits, and faraway lands. Neither of them can read, so she must discern their meaning through the pictures. When her mother tragically dies in childbirth, her world is shattered.

The author brings to life the rarely depicted subculture of medieval beguines—women who sought spiritual community and autonomy without surrendering to patriarchal structures. For Aleys, this shift offers not just sanctuary, but a radical reimagining of female belonging and loyalty.

Soon she starts having religious visions and is illegally translating scripture, sparked in part by political unrest and ecclesiastical control. These elements ground the story in a world on the verge of transformation, where faith, power, and language intertwine to create a new world order.

This is an amazing debut, a lyrical historical novel about rebellion, faith, and female community in medieval Europe. Janet Rich Edwards offers readers a richly imagined portrait of spiritual life and autonomy through Aleys’s eyes, filled with curiosity and determination.

In thirteenth-century Bruges, Aleys despises the idea of becoming a wife and a mother from a young age, but especially after the death of her own mother. While her younger sister only wishes to find a wealthy husband, Aleys' only wish is to live a life in devotion to God. After becoming engaged against her will in order to save her father's business, Aleys decides to run away with a friar who is convinced she can help spread their faith. However, something sinister is afoot that is affecting the church's legitimacy, and Aleys could soon find her life to be in danger.

I am not religious in the slightest, so while this was originally difficult to get into, I could not read this book fast enough to learn what happens to Aleys and the others. Her commitment to the things and people she believed in was borderline obsessive, and I was really rooting for her to be content with her life.
For this being Edwards' breakout novel, I am so incredibly amazed at how well put together Canticle is. Definitely brings up the question of "how far would you go for your beliefs." I also had zero idea that the church prohibited the Bible from being translated! That they only wanted holy men to be able to preach or truly understand the meaning behind it. Super interesting!

Thank you so much to Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley for the eARC! Projected publishing date: December 2nd, 2025

Reading Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards is such an interesting religious experience.

Aleys always knew she was meant for God, when she prayed, he listened. But for the mortal men on Earth, she is a tool, a piece on the board. Aleys refuses again and again, and learns how women have always been holy and should be revered, but also unfortunately how they are treated by the men who are afraid of them.

This book made me so angry at the men who only wanted to possess Aleys. Whether they thought she was beautiful, or holy, or demonic, everyone wanted something from her, and all she wanted was to be left alone. I think this is an experience that many women have, where they feel wanted only for what they can provide others. It made a lot of sense to me that she felt safer among the sisters rather than with any man throughout the entire story.

I really enjoyed the book, the storyline was intriguing with extensive detail and obvious research into what the time period was like. I think Edwards is a fantastic writer and can’t wait to read more by her.