
Matrix
Lauren Groff · 2021
Marie de France arrives as a teenage castoff at a crumbling nunnery and builds it into a kingdom. Groff's medieval novel is a vision of female power, mysticism, and queer desire that feels totally contemporary while being historically meticulous. The historical novel as speculative fiction.
Best of Last 10 Years · the Pro canon
The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.