The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Synopsis
Strasbourg, 1518. In the midst of a blisteringly hot summer, a lone woman begins to dance in the city square. She dances for days without pause or rest, and as she is joined by hundreds of others, the authorities declare an emergency. Musicians will be brought in to play the Devil out of these women.

Just beyond the city’s limits, pregnant Lisbet lives with her mother-in-law and husband, tending the bees that are their livelihood. And then, as the dancing plague gathers momentum, Lisbet’s sister-in-law Nethe returns from seven years’ penance in the mountains for a crime no one will name.

It is a secret that Lisbet is determined to uncover. As the city buckles under the beat of a thousand feet, she finds herself thrust into a dangerous web of deceit and clandestine passion, but she is dancing to a dangerous tune . . .

My Review

Two years ago I read Kiran Milwood Hargrave’s first adult novel The Mercies and it was one of my favourite reads of 2020, so I was excited to be sent a copy of her new book The Dance Tree to review. It was interesting reading this book in our hottest summer when this is set in Strasbourg 1518, also the hottest summer they had known. Kiran Millwood Hargrave has picked a very intersting time in Strasbourg history, this was the summer of the dancing women, when Frau Troffea went to the town square looking for food in a time when crops had failed and suddenly starting to dance in some sort of trance. Slowly other women came to join her, reaching as many four hundred over two weeks, dancing all day until their feet bled. Set against this is the story of four other women, Lisbet, pregnant and living with her huband’s family on an apiary, where they use the wax to make and sell candles. There is her mother in law Sophey, her sister in law Nethe and her best friend Ida. Like in The Mercies this is the story of the strength of women in a patriarchal and religious society, the secrets they have and the friendships that are formed.

What really stands out for me from Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s books is her beautiful prose. She has a poetic style, very descriptive in both setting and characters, which makes this such a joyful reading experience. She has obviously done a lot of research into this period of Strasbourg’s history, and this shines through in her chapters on the dancers, the way they were treated by the spectators and by the Church. Like in her previous book religion plays a prominent part in The Dance Tree, especially in connection to the treatment of women, in their lack of understanding.

Like her prose, Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s characters are detailed and through the book grow into people that you take to heart and feel like you understand. Lisbet is a fascinating character, born on the night a comet races through the sky and damages a field near her home. She believes this has placed a curse on her, and after sufferering multiple miscarriages it is understandable she feels like this. She is pregnant when we first meet her, and at the furthest point she has got too, so has a sense of anticipation and hope that finally she will become a mother. The Dance Tree in the title refers to a tree that she visits in the woods, a tree that was a pagan place of worship, and is a place Lisbet comes to remember the children she has lost. Her story is heartbreaking but at the same time one of hope and strength, she will not let life knock her down or those she loves. There is an air of mystery about her sister in law, recently returned home after seven years of banishment to a convent in the hills. Nethe is quiet, holds resentment to her friend Ida and her husband, but Lisbet has no idea why, with no one willing to tell her what happened. Nethe’s story is full of mystery, misunderstandings and secrets. I found her story the most poignant and emotive, and it was her story that I found myself more invested in.

The Dance Tree is a stunning read. I completely lost myself in the plot where Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s descriptive prose painted a picture of this period of hunger, mania, plague and fear. I took the characters to my heart, getting involved in their personal stories as well as their story as a collective. The addition of chapters telling the stories of some of those women who were compelled to dance were a brilliant addition, giving an understanding to what they have been through and how the hunger, plague and famine effected them. This is a book that will definitly be in my top reads of the year, and one I highly recommend you add to your ever growing TBR pile.

I’d like to than Kate Green from Picador for my advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.