Matrix

Matrix er en sanselig og visionær roman fra et middelalderkloster og en fortælling om skaberkraft, begær og kvindelige fællesskaber. Den prisbelønnede forfatter Lauren Groff tegner et lyslevende og dybt originalt portræt af en for længst glemt historisk kvindeskikkelse, Marie de France. Marie de France er af adelsslægt, men egner sig hverken til hofliv eller ægteskab: Hun er for høj, for virkelysten og ikke tilstrækkeligt køn. Som syttenårig sendes Marie væk fra dronning Aliénor af Aquitaines hof til et ludfattigt kloster i England. Her skal hun som priorinde lede klosteret. Klosterets nonner er plaget af sult og sygdom, men Marie er fast besluttet på at udstikke en ny og modig kurs for de kvinder, hun nu skal lede og beskytte. Med sin handlekraft får Marie sat skik på klosteret og sætter sig i respekt i lokalområdet. På magtfuld vis formår hun at skabe rammerne om et blomstrende, driftigt og kreativt fællesskab af hellige kvinder i en brutal og konfliktfyldt verden. Matrix er en sanselig og visionær roman om middelalderen. Det er både et portræt af den historiske person og digter Marie de France og en overbevisende moderne hyldest til kvindelige fællesskaber og kvindeligt begær. "En enestående roman fuld af sprudlende liv og mod … en overbevisende moderne fortælling om lederskab, ambition og skaberkraft og om individers fælles liv." The Guardian "Groff har skrevet en smuk bog helt uden for kategori, en queer fortælling, som genfinder en stor digter fra fortiden og vækker hende pragtfuldt og sanseligt til live." The Observer "En helt og aldeles strålende roman … Marie de France er en karakter, som er blændende kompleks." The Times " Matrix og skildringen af Marie de France giver Groff et litterært springbræt til en fortid, hvis temaer spejler vores tidsalder." The New York Times Book Review Lauren Groff (f. 1978) er en af nyere amerikansk litteraturs vigtigste stemmer. Hun fik sit store gennembrud med romanen Skæbne og hævn (2016) og har været finalist til National Book Awards tre gange. Lauren Groff har modtaget The Joyce Carol Oates Prize for Matrix , der blev kåret til en af årets bedste bøger i The Guardian og desuden var nummer 1 på listen over Obamas yndlingsbøger i 2021. Hendes bøger er oversat til 30 sprog.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS AN OBAMA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Gorgeous, sensual, addictive' SARA COLLINS 'Brightly lit' NAOMI ALDERMAN Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, yet too coarse for courtly life, Marie de France is cast from the royal court and sent to Angleterre to take up her new duty as the prioress of an impoverished abbey. Lauren Groff's modern masterpiece is about the establishment of a female utopia. 'A propulsive, captivating read' BRIT BENNETT 'Fascinating, beguiling, vivid' MARIAN KEYES 'A dazzlingly clever tale' THE TIMES 'A thrillingly vivid, adventurous story about women and power that will blow readers' minds. Left me gasping' EMMA DONOGHUE

AN INSTANT 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, Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies . 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.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS AN OBAMA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Gorgeous, sensual, addictive' SARA COLLINS 'Brightly lit' NAOMI ALDERMAN Born from a long line of female warriors and crusaders, yet too coarse for courtly life, Marie de France is cast from the royal court and sent to Angleterre to take up her new duty as the prioress of an impoverished abbey. Lauren Groff's modern masterpiece is about the establishment of a female utopia. 'A propulsive, captivating read' BRIT BENNETT 'Fascinating, beguiling, vivid' MARIAN KEYES 'A dazzlingly clever tale' THE TIMES 'A thrillingly vivid, adventurous story about women and power that will blow readers' minds. Left me gasping' EMMA DONOGHUE

AN INSTANT 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, Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies . 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.