Matrix: THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A remarkable new novel from Lauren Groff, her first since the New York Times bestselling Fates and Furies NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2021 A BARACK OBAMA BEST BOOKS PICK 2021 'Lush, gripping and ferocious, MATRIX is animated with sensual detail on every page' MADELINE MILLER 'An audacious piece of storytelling, full of passion, wisdom and magic' SARAH WATERS 'A gorgeous, sensual, addictive read' SARA COLLINS Seventeen-year-old Marie, too wild for courtly life, is thrown to the dogs one winter morning, expelled from the royal court to become the prioress of an abbey. Marie is strange - tall, a giantess, her elbows and knees stick out, ungainly. At first taken aback by life at the abbey, Marie finds purpose and passion among her mercurial sisters. Yet she deeply misses her secret lover Cecily and queen Eleanor. Born last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, women who flew across the countryside with their sword fighting and dagger work, Marie decides to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. She will bring herself, and her sisters, out of the darkness, into riches and power. MATRIX is a bold vision of female love, devotion and desire from one of the most adventurous writers at work today. 'A thrillingly vivid, adventurous story about women and power that will blow readers' minds. Left me gasping.' EMMA DONOGHUE 'Both epic and intimate, this sweeping novel explores questions of female ambition, creativity and passion with electrifying prose and sparkling wit. A propulsive, captivating read' BRIT BENNETT 'A dazzingly clever tale' THE TIMES 'A remarkable novel- unusual, profound, transcendental' EVENING STANDARD

About the Author :
Lauren Groff is a three-time National Book Award finalist and the New York Times bestselling author of four novels, The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies and Matrix, and two short story collections, Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. She has won The Story Prize and been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work regularly appears in the New Yorker, the Atlantic and elsewhere, and she was named one of Granta's 2017 Best Young American Novelists.

Review :
Visionary leader, queer lover, 12th-century writer ... the life of Marie de France is triumphantly reimagined in an assertively modern novel about female ambition and creativity... a highly distinctive novel of great vigour and boldness. From mystical visions that may or may not be divine, to the earthy business of abbey pigs, diseases and account books, Groff does it all with purpose and panache Groff's writing is muscular and precise, her themes wildly resonant. Women are dismissed and contained, subject to misogynist attacks and abuse, but gain power collectively - "alone, together". Shockingly, this message is as poignant today as it was, perhaps, 800 years ago A dazzlingly clever tale . . . gorgeously precise prose, always elegantly weighted and perfectly economical Pitch-perfect This is a remarkable novel: unusual, profound, transcendental It's a breathtaking novel A thrillingly vivid, adventurous story about women and power that will blow readers' minds. Left me gasping. Fascinating, beguiling, vivid Luminous, divine, her masterpiece An audacious piece of storytelling, full of passion, wisdom and magic How mesmerising can twelfth century nuns be, even in the hands of Lauren Groff? I had barely started it before I was bloody well blaspheming with delight. Matrix is a gorgeous, sensual, addictive read. Transcendent prose and vividly described settings bring to life historic events, from the Crusades to the papal interdict of 1208. Groff has outdone herself with an accomplishment as radiant as Marie's visions. From the moment you're introduced to Marie, a queer, fierce warrior woman riding across the countryside on her warhorse, you feel as though you've time-travelled back to the Middle Ages. Groff's prose is arresting and unforgettably visceral . . . It's impossible not to feel galvanised by Marie's resilience, independence and determination to make her mark in a world ruled by men. I'll be thinking about Matrix for a long time to come Enchanting and intriguing, Matrix absorbs the reader into the medieval period without compelling them to depart entirely from the present It's a bold, luminous tale that captivates from first to last. A robust and pleasingly strange slice of historical fiction Lauren Groff's Matrix is just marvellous; vivid and vibrant, it hums with the lives of those contained within the convent walls, as Marie becomes the ambitious and canny hub at the heart of this female utopia. No doubt a mini-series beckons Groff offers a world that is rapturous, rapacious, ecstatic, profane; a novel of seismic revelations. Matrix explores the story of Marie de France, a young woman sent to languish in a struggling convent that she begins to transform through her own leadership. Both epic and intimate, this sweeping novel explores questions of female ambition, creativity and passion with electrifying prose and sparkling wit. A propulsive, captivating read. Matrix is alive with lust and glory. In the incandescent Marie de France - visionary, cantankerous and uncowed by the constraints of her sex - Groff paints a portrait of sisterhood that shines out of the past and into the lives of women today. Animated with sensual detail on every page and filled with lush, gripping storytelling that cuts to the bone, MATRIX resonates right into the present moment. I never thought I would find myself longing to be a medieval nun but Groff is a worker of wonders. This book is a ferocious joy Lushly textured and uniquely vivid, Matrix settles itself on your mind like a dream or vision - it's absolutely stunning What a book. Perfectly done. I adored it It's as brightly lit as an illuminated manuscript and would make the most perfect Christmas present imaginable Full of sharp sensory detail, it's balm and nourishment for brain, heart and soul Matrix takes the mysterious life of the late 12th-century poet - known today for her romantic lais - and runs with it . . . Groff explores themes of domination, death and desire in compelling (if at times, stomach-turning) detail However, like Groff's earlier novel, this becomes a vivid, immersive and at times wild account of female agency In Lauren Groff's hands, the tale of a medieval nunnery is must-read fiction A marvelously told story of devotion, desire and ambition in the heart of a female utopia Matrix is another masterpiece from a writer whom few at this point can best Through Marie, Groff explores how a society's religious and gendered constraints can be turned on their head to create a utopia [A]n electric reimagining . . . feminist, sensual, magisterial, de France's saga is one of hardship and triumph, an unforgettable character whose far-seeing vision and devotion to the nuns in her community enable them to transcend what threatens to erase and silence them Matrix focuses less on Marie the author and more on Marie the abbess - and if you think that doesn't sound like the obvious angle for a fun and engaging story, you underestimate the scope of Groff 's imagination and talent In these incandescent pages, Groff reverently imagines her way into the life and lore of Marie de France . . . Woven from Groff's trademark ecstatic sentences and brimming with spiritual fervor, Matrix is a radiant work of imagination and accomplishment Thrilling and heartbreaking, Groff crafts an electric work of historical fiction A transportive and meditative tale that will swallow you up from the very start Groff, a premier stylist . . . .continues to grow, taking on a medieval foremother's story in her latest novel. The voice she finds for Marie de France . . . .will hold readers fast as the exiled Angevin royal becomes abbess of a convent, leading her charges through historic upheavals Feverishly exhilarating stuff With her unparalleled gift for sumptuous, sublime prose, Groff paints an engrossing portrait of a woman who, despite living in a world bound by constraints, experiences a life rich with passion and creativity. Surrounded by a supportive sisterhood, Marie uses strength and ingenuity to subvert the oppression of the patriarchy Utterly absorbing Splendid with rich description and period vocabulary, this courageous and spin-tingling novel shows an incredible range for Groff (FLORIDA, 2018), and will envelop readers fully in Marie's world, interior and exterior, all senses lit up. It is both a complete departure and an easy-to-envision tale of faith, power, and temptation. In this bildungsroman about the real-life 12th-century poet Marie de France, a teenage Marie is exiled to a blighted Benedictine nunnery, where she finds strength and power as a prioress Powerful, sapphic historical novel . . . Richly realized with historical details that don't overwhelm Readers will recognize her stunning prose and grand, mythic perspective. . . . in a tale that feels both ancient and urgent, as holy as it is deeply human The pages are almost completely devoid of men - seen, but not heard - with Groff using poetic, melodic and yet fierce writing to breathe volume into themes of power, ambition and success from the perspective of women [A] propulsive, enchanting, and emotionally charged read A clever spin on the story of Marie de France I loved this accomplished piece of storytelling. So much so, I added it to my Booker wish list at the last minute, a wish not fulfilled, of course Matrix is a rich, beautifully written novel about ambition and desire, and also witchy separatist medieval nuns Mesmerizing and inspiring Medieval life can seem far from our modern grasp, but Groff vividly describes the daily workings of the convent, from prayers to practical chores. She has done her research and it shows in the rich details she provides of working the fields, preparing meals, governing novices . . . magical, a beautiful evocation of what women can achieve and what they can mean to each other [A] feminist foray into a medieval nunnery that is stunning in its labyrinthine artistry and sensual tracing of life as lived during the era of the poet Marie de France and the legendary Eleanor of Aquitaine Must-read A[n] artful writer, Groff has no need for fantastic artifice to construct a world without men. She . . . gives us an extraordinary protagonist . . . Anyone who has read Groff's previous novels and stories knows that this author's greatest virtue is her economy of prose. A disciplined writer . . . If "Eleanor's best currency is story," that goes double for Groff . . . Groff's "Matrix" simultaneously transports us to a backward world that once was and the grim future that seems inevitable. And all this through the eyes of a group of extraordinary women who decline to live lives of quiet desperation [A] transcendently beautiful novel with sensuality, religious ecstasy, gender and power explorations, and a fair bit of tasteful gore. It's surprisingly delicious to read fiction about a historical figure we know so little about I'm on page 17 and now nothing else matters . . . Once you have this book in your hands I feel certain you too will be consumed [D]reamy prose . . . At its heart, the book's message is simple: joy can exist in darkness Richly imaginative [A] relentless exhibition of Groff's freakish talent . . . an unforgettable book . . . ecstatic, refulgent, God-struck, heretical [A] creative, intelligent work that will last The real Marie de France may continue to elude historians but the speculative fiction in Matrix combine to produce an unfailingly absorbing novel An uplifting novel in its own unique way, and up there with Groff's best work Matrix forms an intensely focused character study, but also succeeds as a probing exploration of female power A beautiful and beguiling novel that transports the listener utterly and completely to another world Against a convincingly filthy and precarious medieval backdrop, Marie is a figure of dazzling complexity