Matrix: A Novel

Obviously a great writer. Some of the words used were of olden times so will need looking up in a dictionary. Very much a medieval, fantasy, heroine story. Depending on your tastes it is, hmmm, maybe feminist sexual??? Nuns lusting after other nuns. The religious hypocrisy and details of that were challenging for me to read past. I wasn't expecting that. But others may have no problem. I returned the book, didn't finish it. Just a heads up.

The author is clearly a gifted writer, finely evoking time, place, and the inner life of the protagonist. But the story, such as it is, is very, very dull and moves at a snail’s pace. I found myself wishing this short book would end soon and longing for Ken Follet.

Marie is disconsolate when her half sister, Eleanor of Aquitaine, exiles her from court by sending her to be prioress at a nunnery. She's 17, taller than many men, and hampered by herself. It turns out to be the best thing that could have happened to Marie and to the nuns, whose lives and fortunes she turns around though sheer determination and, later, visions. I loved this book not only for the characters- Marie chief among them but also the other nuns-but for the writing. Groff has a way of pulling you in and keeping you reading, with sly little asides. Some might find it a tad mannered but it's fitting given the 12th century setting. Marie is not flawless; some of her decisions lead to horrible outcomes for some of the women. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. A terrific read I highly recommend.

THE MATRIX begins in 1158 when Marie, the protagonist, is sent to a nunnery by her half-sister, the sometimes queen of England.You see, Marie is the product of a rape; she is also a mannish and homely young woman, and Queen Eleanor, whom Marie actually worships, doesn’t see her as a lady in waiting. She is sent to a run-down abbey in England where the nuns are starving. She will be a novice at first, but when she takes her vows she will be second in command, the prioress. The abbess is bordering on senility, so it won’t be long before Marie is in charge.Marie wants out. She doesn’t believe the mystical hogwash the nuns teach. But then she meets women among the nuns that she respects. Tilde, an heiress of a rich family, will be her prioress. She’s like the administrator of a small city. She makes sure the convent runs efficiently. Ruth will run her almshouse. Wulfhild is her engineer who will run her building projects. Nest will run the infirmary, a job Marie would ordinarily handle. Marie grows to love them all.One of her first changes is to swap the silk spinning industry for a scriptorium; they can do it cheaper than the monks, and it will bring in enough money to feed the nuns and the servants. Gradually Marie begins to revel in the power she holds as abbess; she doubles the number of nuns, ultimately growing it to near a hundred with many more novices and oblates.A problem crops up she must solve. Some of the younger nuns and novices are pregnant. She bans men from the abbey and builds a labyrinth to keep any unwanted towns people and visitors away including church officials. Gradually her power goes to her head. When sickness claims the priest who says mass and hears confessions at the abbey, Marie does it herself. The older nuns are outraged. Her next step is to build an elaborate abbess’s house for herself and some of her money-making crafts.It’s pretty hard to deny that this is a feminist novel. Marie is able to ignore the dictates of the crown and even the pope. When men from the village attack the abbey to steal their wealth, she and the nuns fight them off. When a beautiful young novice who plays the part of a holy woman begins to sway the younger nuns and the novices, Marie puts her in charge of a house for the lepers, something the woman can not abide.Who would have thought that in the end Marie would have a greater authority as an abbess than she ever would have had at court.

I really enjoyed "Fates and Furies" and "Florida" -- I would give either 5-stars. This book had the same style of "Arcadia" which I also did not care for. The characters were not very compelling, nor was the plot. The other books I mentioned are well worth the time to read. This one I would not recommend.

Fathered as product of violence by Geoffrey V of Anjou, second husband of Empress Maud and father of the Plantagenet dynasty, Marie de France is sent to the English court at the young age of 15, soon after it is discovered that her mother had died two years prior and she has been managing the estate in her mother’s stead. At court, it is awkward for the sovereign to treat her as family, and she is deemed not comely enough to secure a marriage. At seventeen, partly as a cruel joke, partly to rid herself of the family embarrassment, Queen Eleanor (of Aquitaine) sends Marie to an abbey as its prioress.The abbey (Glastonbury?) is in terrible condition. Most nuns are ill, starved, or both. They don’t believe their newest arrival can turn things around, but she does… Mightily. She recovers land and taxes owed to the abbey, spearheads construction projects, raises livestock, and increases revenue by attracting rich ladies who want to spend their elderly years in peace and contemplation. Her spiritual flock increases too, as does an army of well placed spies within the major houses of Europe. With hard work and Marie’s steadfast management as abbess, her abbey becomes the richest in the land… And her fame grows as a larger than life mystic and receiver of holy visitations by the Holy Virgin.Matrix takes its title by the notion that Eve and the Holy Virgin are fused female entities, since Eve, upon receiving knowledge after committing the original sin, paved the way for the Holy Virgin’s sacrifice as woman and mother. Quirky and rather unconventional for the historical fiction genre, Matrix is narrated in third person by an all-knowing narrator, during events that unfold over very fluid fifty-five years of English history (mid 12th to the first decade of the 13th century) as they impact this community of Benedictine nuns.Relationship dynamics and characters come alive vividly, especially Marie, an unconventional woman by any standard. Taller than most contemporaries, and with a bellicose demeanor that served her well in the Second Crusade and later enforcing abbey policies, Marie lacks beauty to secure a marriage. What she perceives as a curse when she is sent without escort or ceremony to rule over a ruined abbey—she also lacks religious vocation— becomes the greatest freedom a female could have aspired to in Medieval society, short of becoming queen. She becomes important to her community of nuns, delivers Mass and administers sacrament (frowned upon by most in her congregation but none denounced her), imparts law and order, and when the Pope sends an edict forbidding the English people from receiving sacrament over a spat with King John, she defies it too. Steadfast, mystic yet prideful, she loves with the same intensity that she punishes.The plot drags a great deal towards the middle, making this very short novel feel immensely denser than its 260 pages. Still, I’m glad I read it and got to know this woman and the times she presided over. I’m richer for having read it.

There are many themes running through the book (love, unrequited love, place of women in society, medieval history, etc.), but one of the most interesting is the feminist take on what makes a good leader. The main protagonist, Marie de France (the largely unknown poet, not the well-documented princess) is exiled to a position of leadership in a rundown nunnery. Gradually she develops the convent into a rich, thriving concern that is, above all, able to protect its inhabitants from predatory, largely male, both clerical and lay, forces. To do this, Marie must gain and retain control of both the nunnery and the environment. A man would do this by manipulation and force; Marie does it by manipulation, gaining the trust of her charges, making the best use of their abilities, and guerrilla-type defence when necessary. When she is outrageously autocratic, even her outspoken detractors within the community balk at betraying her, not through fear, but through love and respect. Living as we do in an age of increasing autocracy, attention to an alternative variety of benevolent but strong rule, of quasi-consultative leadership based on genuine concern for the base, is well worth a read.

This is part historical fiction, part feminist fairy tale. I thought it was brilliant.The central character Marie can be found in history in the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor and then Henry II of England. Little is known about her and we can fairly say that the author has created a life story for her, as an abbess and a mystic.Marie creates a women’s utopia guided by her visions of the Virgin Mary. Her abbey is unlike any that actually existed, but there is enough of the true convent life to make her picture beguiling if not plausible. Knowledge of the real events of the period – 1141 to 1212 – will enhance enjoyment of the novel, and will inspire the unknowing reader to investigate.It reminded me a little of her earlier book Arcadia, the utopian dream and then decadent nightmare of the 60s. That too had a prophetic sensitivity to mother earth. Matrix has been widely reviewed and praised by serious critics who have understood it in different ways. For this reader, at a time when the very idea of woman is under siege, it showed the possibilities of a female world. Marie may be imagined but would make a very modern heroine.

I’ve never read anything like this and I loved every sentence. As an author of historical fiction I especially loved the mud and fleas and miasmas and excess of humours, also the passions, visions, food, clothing, rituals, animals, relationships and battles. It’s books like these that make me want to write more… Brava, Lauren! 👏

above all, this is an excellent story. it's the sort of tale one could imagine told alongside a winter fire in times of yore, a cracking yarn winding this way and that, now revealing, now concealing. i love it for its reframing of the original humanness story, and for the manner in which that restatement is evidenced by the tale.be bold, be brave. tuck in and allow yourself to encounter deeper truths than more commonly allowed about what it is to be woman. and yes, by this is firmly, and exclusively meant those among humans who are born into childbearing capacity (even when unused) and form: women.

I loved the idea of the book and the characters were interesting, the plot fascinating and the psychology was well-done and gripping. My objection is the actual prose. You know how literary writers, especially US ones, read out their work in a monotone? You can actually hear this when you read. She does that thing where she decides not to use commas correctly. Instead, she runs sentences on and on in a rather affected way. No speech marks, of course, because I suppose speech marks mean the book is for normal people who enjoy reading, or something. It's self-absorbed and self-conscious pretentiousness, unfortunately. Also - glowworms in England??? They are pretty uncommon and certainly would not be featuring in the way she writes one scene.I really wanted to like this book more, but the manner of prose put me off.