Canticle

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION *NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS CHOICE *REAL SIMPLE BEST BOOKS OF 2025 * SPOTIFY BEST DEBUTS OF 2025 * GOODREADS READERS MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF FALLAtmospheric and unforgettable.PeopleA masterful debut novel following a spirited young womans 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 secretbut just as she thinks their connection might become something more, everything unravels. When her father promises her in marriage to a merchant she doesnt 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 womens independence, and a sudden rash of miracles all draw the attention of an ambitious bishopand 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 womenmystics, saints, anchoresses, and beguinesand introducing a major new talent, Canticle is a luminous work of historical fiction, vividly evoking a world on the verge of transformation.