Canticle

Name: Canticle
ISBN: 9781966302056

First published 2025
368 pages
English

At sixteen, Aleys of Bruges wants two forbidden things: Latin and a say in her own future. Stubborn, bright and visited by visions she cannot explain, she has been studying in secret with Finn, the young scholar who is her only friend, just as something tender begins to grow between them. Then her draper father promises her to a merchant she does not love. Rather than marry, Aleys runs to the beguines, fiercely independent women of prayer and work who answer to no priest and sing along the canals and market streets. Among them she finds friendship and purpose. But a girl who hears God and reads His words is dangerous in 1298, and devotion may cost her everything she has chosen.

Genres: Fiction › Speculative fiction › Fantasy Fiction › Historical fiction Fiction › Literary fiction Fiction › Religious fiction Fiction › Speculative fiction › Fantasy › Historical fantasy
Themes: Gender › Feminism Religion & faith › Christianity Gender › Womanhood Coming of age
Mood: Thought-provoking Atmospheric Emotional
Tropes: Found family
Protagonist: Female protagonist Teenage protagonist
Where and when: Middle Ages
Style: Narration: Multiple narrators Pacing: Slow-paced

What readers say

3.85

7.9K ratings across the web

7 in 10 readers loved it, 1 didn't like it

Most readers admire its research and writing on medieval women and faith, but many find it slow and heavy on religion.

Praised: Worldbuilding Ideas Writing Characters
Mixed: Plot
Criticized: Pacing
Best for: Fans of medieval women's historyReaders interested in faith and doubtLovers of slow literary historical fiction