I've held off reading this for the longest time because I've wanted to be in the perfect mood for Harwood's beautiful prose and richly layered storytelling. The Dance Tree feels similar to the author's previous adult novel The Mercies in that it follows a real historical event, in this case the dancing plagues, and centered female voices. However I found I just didn't connect that well with the story this time as I have previously. The initial pull of the book, the plague itself and the mystery around the phenomenon, fades into the background as Lisbet tells her story. Unfortunately her story just didn't really draw me in enough to care and her character development felt lacking.

A interesting part of history, but this lacked depth of character and the plot felt very flimsy with lovely writing that tries desperately to flesh it out.

As a previous fan of this author, I had high hopes for this book. I have to say that it wasn’t as good as her previous book.
The story was well written. I liked the characters and I learnt a lot about the historical period. I just wasn’t captivated by the story.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave has done it again! So much magic in her words and this is a haunting story that really sticks with you. Couldn't recommend it enough!

Sadly this one didn't live up to my expectations from Kiran Millwood Hargrave. I've enjoyed a few books by this author, but unfortunately this one was boring in parts and didn't keep my attention.

The more books I read by Kiran the more I am sure I should stop. Not my thing . I liked the beginnings and then.... ufff I am so upset at the writing and the endings.

I liked parts of this book but there were sections that just missed the mark for me. The characters felt a little too underdeveloped for me and i feel as if they could be developed more. The writing was good but it didn't always grip me as it should. I liked the action but it should have been pushed further in places than it did.

This book follows heavily pregnant Lisbet, her best friend Ida and sister in law Agnethe as a dancing plague comes to town, affecting only women and causing them to dance non stop.

This is definitely a very interesting book, and I did really enjoy reading it. Lisbet is a very compelling character and I also really liked Agnethe too. The imagery is there and it’s very atmospheric, and while the pacing does pick up towards the end, I did find it it quite slow to begin with. It wasn’t until I was about 30-40% of the way through the book that I really started to get into it and enjoy it more. It did redeem itself by the end and I did enjoy it, mainly for the characters.

DNF at 50 pages.

I don't think this was quite the right book for me. I think it will be the perfect book for many other readers, however I have found that I enjoy Hargrave's children's fiction more than her adult fiction. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a dark, female-focused historical fiction novel

The Dance Tree
⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘Set in an era of superstition and hysteria, and inspired by the true events of a doomed summer, The Dance Tree is an impassioned story of family secrets, forbidden love, and women pushed to the edge . . .’

Unfortunately this one just didn’t hit the mark for me. Myself and my fellow buddy readers guessed the reveal fairly early on, and once that was confirmed I must say I didn’t have a great deal of incentive to keep going.

Have probably been a bit generous with my rating for this one because although it didn’t grab me in the same way it has others I can appreciate that it is a well written book

‘The Dance Tree’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is compelling and emotional. I read it in two long sittings, unwilling to put it down.
Based on a true historical event in Strasbourg in 1518 when, one hot summer, one woman started to dance and didn’t stop. Others followed. Set at a time of extreme heat, hunger, intense religious belief and superstition, ‘The Dance Tree’ takes the historical event and tells the story of a group of women and their secrets.
Lisbet, heavily pregnant with her thirteenth child, having lost the previous twelve, lives on the family farm with husband Henne and mother-in-law Sophey. They scratch a living from their bees, selling honey and beeswax. They await the arrival of the baby, and of Henne’s sister Agnethe returning from seven years of punishment at a nunnery. Many things are unspoken. Lisbet, feeling secrets are kept from her, finds support with her best friend Ida. But always she feels as if the Wilers blame her for bringing bad luck to the farm, bad luck because Lisbet was born on the day of a comet, a comet which bought bad luck and starvation to the land.
So many things are unspoken. What happened before Lisbet married Henne and joined the Wiler family. What shame did Nethe commit to deserve her banishment and, now she is returned, why is there such hatred between her and Ida. Lisbet, feeling estranged from her husband and mother-in-law, struggles to make sense of what is happening. What is the family hiding from her, and why. The family has so many secrets, including the secrets Lisbet is hiding about her mother’s death.
The power balance at the Wiler house changes as the three women are left alone. Henne travels to Heidelberg to give evidence in court that their bees are free creatures in nature and are not wilfully stealing nectar from the wildflowers at the monastery. Meanwhile in town women begin dancing. First one, trance-like, hearing music that those watching cannot hear. More join in, at first a spectacle for the town’s inhabitants. But then, as more people join in, fear begins to circulate. Are they ill, are they mad. And how will the church control the hysteria.
Into the Wiler home come two lodgers, two musicians paid by the church to play music to drive the devil from the dancing women. And so the power balance shifts again in the Wiler household, especially as one of the men is a Turk, an infidel. The power of religious belief and superstition is overwhelming. Heat, poverty, hunger all increase the pressure to conform. Judgement against those who do not fit in or whose behaviour is judged sinful or simply different is uncompromising. Those wielding the power, the Twenty One, are strong men filled with pomposity and arrogance. They are quick to judge and will not hear evidence or allow people to make witness. Women’s voices are not heard.
Lisbet’s place of sanctuary is a linden tree, hidden deep in the forest in an impenetrable tangle of bushes. There she can be herself, remember her mother and grieve for her lost babies. Her mother had a tree like this near Lisbet’s childhood home, it was called a dance tree. When Lisbet visits her tree she finds peace in its solitude. At every visit she leaves a small offering, a pebble, a feather, a flower. She feels safe there but in truth there is safety nowhere. When the Twenty One sees the dancing women, decisions about what to do – to punish the women or care for them – are made individually according to the woman’s standing and position in society, obedient or sinner.
Like Hargrave's previous novel ‘The Mercies,’ this is a powerful mesmerising novel tight with tension, betrayal and threat leavened by snatches of love and togetherness. Excellent.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

This was a beautifully written and ultimately hopeful story set around the dancing plague in Strasborg during the sweltering summer of 1518. I thought Lisbet was a really interesting and relatable protagonist, dealing with the fear of being pregnant following a number of miscarriages and living in a marriage that had once been loving, but was now cold. The relationship between Lisbet, Nethe and Ida was really well constructed. I believed the friendship between Lisbet and Ida and understood why Nethe was so quickly accepted as a sister, given how starved for companionship Lisbet was. I also thought Sophey was a fascinating character and her arc in particular was excellent. Overall, this is a very character driven novel, but I would definitely recommend it as the characters are vibrant and compelling.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and it’s definitely made me hunt out her others.
Lisbet is heavily pregnant after many losses. Her husband’s sister is returning from doing penance in the mountains for a crime no one will talk about. Lisbet’s husband has to leave their town to defend himself against accusations his bees venturing further than they should. In the meantime women are gathering in the market square to dance and the feared regime The Twenty One want to put a stop to it.
At first it’s not clear how Lisbet’s story and the dancing women are linked but gradually the stories started to intertwine.
Throughly enjoyable book

In Strasbourg, 1518, a strange plague has struck the women of the city, who have begun dancing and either won't or can't stop. As if possessed, the women dance until their feet are bloody...

Outside the city limits, Lisbet lives with her husband and mother in law, tending to their bees. Lisbet is heavily pregnant after a succession of miscarriages, and trying to live a small, quiet life to protect her unborn child. But then her sister in law, Nethe, arrives back from the mountains where she has been for the last seven years in penance for some sin that no-one will talk about it, and the first rumours of the dancing sickness start to float in from the city, and Lisbet's world is turned on its head...

Historical fiction with a contemporary flair - this is a beautifully told story about a strange phenomenon that I have always been quietly fascinated with. The characters were beautifully realised, and I didn't want the book to end. I'm a huge fan of Kiran Milwood Hargrave, and her latest novel is exceptional.

Thank you to NetGalley, and to the publisher, for granting me a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Dance Tree takes place in Strasbourg, in the 16th Century and is inspired by a true story.
Lisbet lives with her mother-in-law and husband, tending the bees that are their livelihood. In the city, women are falling under a strange and sinister dancing spell, where they literally dance themselves to death. 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, but no one will tell Lisbet what she did.

It is a secret that Lisbet is determined to uncover, despite the danger this places her in. . .
The Dance Tree is an incredibly vivid, beautifully written tale of secrets, forbidden love, and the lengths a woman will go to in order to be free. I absolutely loved this.

the premise was intriguing enough but the slow-burner of a plot didn't really grab me, the writing too was a bit too dry for my taste which is a pity.

Historical fiction with edge and class. Loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me access to the book in exchange for my honest feedback.

The Dance Tree is going to rip your heart out, and you'll enjoy it. I adored Hargrave's The Mercies, that was a solid 5 star for me, so I was very excited to receive an early copy of The Dance Tree. This tells the story of the dance plague in Strasbourg in 1518, in which hundreds of people danced in what seemed more like a plague, or a trance, than actual enjoyment. What I love about Hargrave's books is that they're an emotional punch nicely packed in about 300 pages, so you experience all those emotions, the brutal existence those women lived through, their heartbreak, joy, and so on, but it doesn't last so long that it starts to drag you down. I actually found myself really looking forward to picking this up and devoured it in a couple of days.

I loved the gorgeous, lyrical writing, so romantic but also brutal at times. The pacing feels so fluid, the story so inevitable.

To me, The Mercies hit the spot in a way that The Dance Tree almost did, I wanted to spend a bit more time with Nethe, who I thought would be a lot more central to the story than she was - yes she was a main character but somehow I expected to see a little bit more of her introspections, motivations and so forth. There are also some small issues I had with the plot which I won't discuss in detail here so as not to spoil, but it's not so much that I didn't like those plot choices as much as that they took me out of the story a couple times.

I am curious to see what people will think of the ending. I will not elaborate on my feelings on it so as not to spoil, but I'll keep an eye on other people's reviews.

This was a beautiful, heartbreaking story set in a very interesting time in history which feels both like escaping our reality but also experiencing it in a different way - there are quite a few parallels to the dance plague and how it affected the poorest, the least powerful people in society... it's a story that really makes you think about it long after it's over.

I liked this book but it didn't blow me away. It was a calm read for me. I wasn't desperate to find out what happened next, but I was interested enough in the characters and their stories to want to know how the story progressed. I really liked Nethe's character and I liked Lisbet's perspective and her relationship with the bees.

I guessed very quickly what Nethe's "sin" was and was happy with the way it was revealed and the hints that were given along the way. I didn't feel cheated because I guessed it at all. It worked well with the theme of rebelling against the constraints of a very Christian society.

I do wish there'd been a bit more lightness and hope at the end though. It was not a completely unhappy ending but it felt very futile and the characters seemed to have lost so much.

This wasn’t the dance I thought it was going to be. The book starts off with one starving woman going to the town square in Strasbourg 1518 hoping for some food, but there is nothing and so she starts dancing. Then the story switches to the main protagonist, Lisbet, pregnant and nearing her time, not daring to hope for a child after a dozen miscarriages and stillbirths. But better off than the starving poor, with enough flour to make bread, and with money coming in from the wax and honey of her hives. Her best friend, Ida, comes for a visit. As the miller’s wife she has even more and finer food, and they are able to visit the city to give alms. The graduations of poverty are carefully balanced, but with the lack of rain after a run of bad harvests, everything is off kilter and liable to slip into rebellion or madness. And then Lisbet’s sister-in-law Nethe comes back from 7 years of penance, but what was the sin she was repenting?
Is it her arrival that upsets the balance, the greed of the church for the bees’ riches, the women who come to join the first one dancing in the streets, or the musicians that come to play for them?

I thought this story would be about a woman joining those dancing in the city, but it is about how all the women in this society have to watch their footing. Life in this era is so much of a struggle, and though it is told from the women’s point of view, the problems and sorrows of the men are also shown. I read this during our heatwave and that gave me a connection to the book which might not have happened in winter, but it still excels in its immersive descriptions.

I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley

*A big thank-you to Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Pan Macmillan, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
Unputdownable! Historical fiction that left me breathless .... Set in 1518 in Alsace in the times of horrific drought, echoes of rebellions against Church authority, it focuses on the power men held over women in any aspect of life and on the ways women and the underprivileged and the poor tried to show their independence through dance. Not the real dance but trance during which they felt freed for some time and not under any authority.
I would not like to reveal the plot but I can say that Lisbet learns a lot about people she lives with and understands her inner power.
Writing is superb and so are the characters, even the ones you come to loathe. Period details are perfect and while reading it was easy for me to visualise the places, some of which I googled.
I am in for another HF by the Author.