Matrix

A Novel

By: Lauren Groff

Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

WINNER OF THE 2022 JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZE

FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2021

Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, NPR, The Financial Times, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Vulture, Marie Claire, Vox, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today and more!

“A relentless exhibition of Groff’s freakish talent. In just over 250 pages, she gives us a character study to rival Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell .” – USA Today

“An electric reimagining . . . feminist, sensual . . . unforgettable.” – O, The Oprah Magazine

“Thrilling and heartbreaking.” –Time Magazine

“[A] page-by-page pleasure as we soar with her.” –New York Times

One of our best American writers, and author of Fates and Furies, The Vaster Wilds, and Brawler, Lauren Groff returns with this exhilarating and groundbreaking novel

Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, seventeen-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.

At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie’s vision be bulwark enough?

Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff’s new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.

Provocative and a very good attempt

The author took on a very ambitious themes. While I didn’t find it outstanding the way she structured it prompted lots of thought and I’m not sure anyone else could have done any better. I especially loved the parts that didn’t have to do with visions and belief but with self knowledge

Was she saint or simply powerfully human?

From the beginning I wrestled with whether or not to continue. Intrigued by the era and setting yet repelled by the narration. A brilliant story that evokes more questions than it answers.

Transcendent

Story, prose and performance take you beyond yourself, imagining a world of women seeking safety and comfort through communal work, camaraderie, and reverence. Fantastical and familiar, transcendent and deeply of the earth, the story paints an utterly engrossing view of the power of women, as well as how pride, ambition and power are always negatives in women, even when using these for good. I cannot say enough how much I love this book, and Andoh’s performance was absolutely note perfect, fitting the majesty of the storytelling.

Enthralling, rich, & beautifully read

Probably the best historical fiction I've ever read/listened to. Great characters, fascinating story, brilliant writing and gorgeous performance. I want to say bad ass, but it's more complicated than that, so I'll say epic.

Thoughtful and enlightening

While this is of course a novel, it highlights the lives and impact of powerful women in the 11-1200s. The book provides an intimate window into the life of religious women—one in particular—and manages to celebrate both its humanity and holiness.