Matrix -- Lauren Groff

<b><b><b><b><b>AN INSTANT <i>NEW YORK TIMES</i> BESTSELLER <p/>WINNER OF THE 2022 JOYCE CAROL OATES PRIZE <p/> FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION <p/>One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2021</b> <p/>Named a Best Book of the Year by <i>The New York Times</i>, <i>The Washington Post</i>, <i>TIME</i>, NPR, <i>The Financial Times</i>, <i>Good Housekeeping</i>, <i>Esquire</i>, Vulture, <i>Marie Claire</i>, Vox, <i>The Los Angeles Times, USA Today</i> and more!<br></b><br>"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 ." - <i>USA Today</i></b> <p/> <b>"An electric reimagining . . . feminist, sensual . . . unforgettable." - <i>O, The Oprah Magazine</i></b> <p/> <b>"Thrilling and heartbreaking." -<i>Time Magazine <p/> </i>"[A] page-by-page pleasure as we soar with her." <i>-New York Times<br></i><br> One of our best American writers, Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking <i>Fates and Furies</i>.</b><br></b></b><br>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. <p/> At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and merc