The Rebel Nun

By: Marj Charlier

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Marj Charlier’s The Rebel Nun is based on the true story of Clotild, the daughter of a sixth-century king and his concubine, who leads a rebellion of nuns against the rising misogyny and patriarchy of the medieval church.

At that time, women are afforded few choices in life: prostitution, motherhood, or the cloister. Only the latter offers them any kind of independence. By the end of the sixth century, even this is eroding as the church begins to eject women from the clergy and declares them too unclean to touch sacramental objects or even their priest-husbands.

Craving the legitimacy thwarted by her bastard status, Clotild seeks to become the next abbess of the female Monastery of the Holy Cross, the most famous of the women’s cloisters of the early Middle Ages. When the bishop of Poitiers blocks her appointment and seeks to control the nunnery himself, Clotild masterminds an escape, leading a group of nuns on a dangerous pilgrimage to beg her royal relatives to intercede on their behalf. But the bishop refuses to back down, and a bloody battle ensues. Will Clotild and her sisters succeed with their quest, or will they face excommunication, possibly even death?

In the only historical novel written about the incident, The Rebel Nun is a richly imagined story about a truly remarkable heroine.

©2021 Marj Charlier (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Critic reviews

BuzzFeed Books Pick

Introspective historical fiction

Come for the story, stay for the history lesson! I appreciate when authors share their research and process.

The Rebel Nun a great listen

I loved so many things about this book. The detail regarding the women and their lot in life was amazing. The performance was outstanding and brought this well written and researched work to life.

Wow

Amazing and I would recommend to everyone. If you are someone who doesn’t particularly like historical nonfiction, you’ll love this fictional take on a true story. Loved the notes at the end.

enjoyed this

This is the first fictional audiobook I've listened to. for a while, I thought I could only do nonfiction because I couldn't immerse myself into the story as well if I was reading it. it took a few tries but I finally managed to get into it!

I'm not experienced with audiobooks but I liked the narration.

3 stars for the story. there were a few parts where I thought it was going to turn into a romance novel (it didn't).

i liked the author's clarifications at the end. overall I enjoyed this a lot and now I want more historical fiction!

Kate Reading does an excellent job reading

The book was badly researched, and a piece of female chauvinist nonsense. It did a credible job of researching the pagan gods, but a lousy job of researching the church history. It had events of church history separated by over 600 years happening at the same time (e.g. the removal of female deacons and male celibacy and conversion of the Gauls). It would be like the armies of the allies in World War 2 fighting with plate mail, tanks, and a death star for historical accuracy.