NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE * REAL SIMPLE BEST BOOKS OF 2025 *
SPOTIFY BEST DEBUTS OF 2025 * GOODREADS READERS’ MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF FALL “Atmospheric
and unforgettable.”— People A masterful debut novel following a spirited young woman’s
explorations of faith agency and love in thirteenth-century Bruges. Aleys is sixteen years
old and unusual: stubborn bright and prone to religious visions. She and her only friend
Finn a young scholar have been learning Latin together in secret—but just as she thinks their
connection might become something more everything unravels. When her father promises her in
marriage to a merchant she doesn’t love she runs away from home finding shelter among the
beguines a fiercely independent community of religious women who refuse to answer to the
Church. Among these hardworking and strong-willed women Aleys glimpses for the first time the
joys of belonging: a life of song meaning and friendship in the markets and along the canals
of Bruges. But forces both mystical and political are at work. Illegal translations of
scripture the women’s independence and a sudden rash of miracles all draw the attention of an
ambitious bishop—and bring Aleys and those around her into ever-increasing danger a danger
that will push Aleys to a new understanding of love and sacrifice. Grounded in the little-told
stories of medieval women—mystics saints anchoresses and beguines—and introducing a major
new talent Canticle is a luminous work of historical fiction vividly evoking a world on the
verge of transformation.
