“There at the centre is a thick-trunked linden with a stage built into its branches. A dance tree. … A doom tree. A relic of the pagans who had their churches open under God.”

My thanks to Pan Macmillan Picador for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Dance Tree’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave in exchange for an honest review. As it was published before I began reading, I complemented my reading of the eARC with its unabridged audiobook edition.

As she did in ‘The Mercies’, Hargrave here returns to the 16th-Century drawing inspiration from a historical event. In Strasberg during the unusually hot July of 1518 a woman began to dance in the streets in a trance-like fashion. She was soon joined by others. This ‘dancing plague’ lasted for two months with people dying each day. It was the biggest outbreak of such a mania ever recorded though not an isolated incident.

In ‘The Dance Tree’ Hargrave weaves a tale featuring four women. Lisbet Wiler lives just beyond the city with her husband, Henne, and mother-in-law, Sophey. They tend the bees and their hives that are their livelihood. Lisbet is currently pregnant and concerned about bringing the child to term having suffered twelve heartbreaking miscarriages. Lisbet receives support and comfort from her best friend, Ida.

As the dancing plague gathers momentum, Lisbet’s sister-in-law Agnethe returns from seven years’ penance in the mountains. No one speaks of the crime that she was banished for though Lisbet is determined to uncover the secret. There are also threats to their bees from the monks of the local monastery who claim that the bees are stealing nectar from their wildflowers. As bees are more difficult to herd than cats, it’s a rather frivolous accusation.

Various plot threads are played out against the backdrop of the dancing plague and highlights the hold of religion and superstition over the peoples of the period.

This was certainly a well written work of historical literary fiction that explores issues of historical female agency. Hargrove writes beautifully, especially of the natural world as well as capturing the combined fear and ecstasy of the trance-like dance.

The themes of love and friendship between women are explored though in her Author’s Note Hargrove does acknowledge that “we have come so far, and not nearly far enough. …. The world-at-large remains too often a hostile place for people who live, look, or love a different way.” She goes on to express her wish to offer her characters “a place to be safe and themselves.”

Overall, a powerful and moving tale. It is one that I expect will appeal to reading groups for its rich storytelling and its multiple themes that offer plenty of topics for discussion.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Just Fantastic.
I was drawn into this book immediately, the stylish writing and descriptions, the historical element and the raw emotion.
Loved Lisbet, the wife of Henne whose sole role now seems to be to provide him with a living child after twelve miscarriages, the sadness and frustration for them both is tangible. The interference of Sophy her Mother-in-law is tolerated well by Lisbet and her solace is the care of the bees belonging to the family.
Ida is Lisbets friend, though her husband Plater is her enemy. Henne's sister Aganthe returns home after seven years in a nunnery paying for an untold crime.
At the heart of the novel is a sudden mania for wild dancing, trancelike and mesmeric, it draws women in and they cannot stop themselves, some dancing to death. The solution by the church is to play music so they will exhaust themselves and may be cured. Musicians are bought to the city to play and Lisbet finds a friend amongst them.
Against the backdrop of the hot summer of 1518 and the suspicious times bought about by the arrival of a comet, this novel is full of history, information and love.
Thank you Kieran and NetGalley

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave brings to life 16th Century Strasbourg during a stiflingly hot summer as a dancing mania infects the women of the town. Heavily pregnant Lisbet lives on a farm on the outskirts of the town and spends her days tending her beloved bees. On the arrival of her sister-in-law Nethe, from her seven years penance at an abbey in the mountains for a crime no one will speak of, Lisbet’s world turns upside down. As the mania gathers momentum and grips the town, Lisbet is determined to uncover the secret of Nethe’s punishment and finds herself uncovering something far more dangerous than she expected.

The Dance Tree is a haunting tale of passion and the lengths we will go to for love. Hargraves writing is raw and emotional which she pours into her characters to connect them to her readers. I found Lisbet to be quite complex, full of pain and love and longing, she is a character of incredible strength to carry on despite all her suffering. The story is set in a time where the Church held absolute power over people’s actions and behaviours and was used to control and persecute those who didn’t “fit in”. I loved this book, it brings a diverse range of characters and their feelings and thoughts to life during dangerous times, when there was no end to amount of punishment simply for loving the wrong person. Yet another wonderful book by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, this story will stay with me for a long time. Thanks to NetGalley and Picador for a digital copy for review.

Set against the backdrop of a swelteringly hot summer in 1500s France, The Dance Tree is the ultimate historical fiction read for summer!

To be honest, the book sells itself, but here are just some of the reasons that come to mind of why I loved it so much:

🌿 the representation of dealing with baby loss several hundred years ago (TW here)
🌿 the LGBT+ representation (again hundreds of years ago)
🌿 the blossoming friendships between women.
🌿 the dreamy, flowing way the story is told, capturing the heat of the summer, the mania, weaving the characters stories together with such beauty, and transporting the reader to the time and place.
🌿 the fact it’s based on the true history of the ‘dancing plague’ of 1518, an aspect of history I’ve not come across in fiction before (plus there is more on the facts of this included at the back of the book which is v interesting)
🌿 the tidy ending 😌

This was my first Kiran Milwood-Hargrave read and I can 100% say I am now desperate to read more of her books (I do have The Mercies & The Deathless Girls on my tbr to get to soon!)

Based on an actual event, ‘The Dance Tree’, Hargrave’s second adult novel, takes this and weaves a story around it, focusing on a group of women, all of whom are at the mercy of the men who rule, either in the home or in the community. Lisbet, pregnant for the thirteenth time, longs for this child to carry to term, after losing so many. Her mother-in-law, a God-fearing woman who is stronger than she seems. Lisbet’s best friend Ida, trapped in an unhappy marriage, and finally, Nethe, Lisbet’s sister-in-law, returning home after carrying out a 7 year penance, for a sin no-one will talk about.

Religious fervour has struck in the cities, with women dancing in a trance-like state on the streets, crowds gathering to watch as one woman becomes two, two becomes three, until large groups of women dance until their feet bleed and their bodies collapse. Lisbet and her female companions become caught up in the gossip and rumours around these dancing women, until ultimately some are drawn in completely.

Hargrave addresses themes of pregnancy, loss, love, sin and hope throughout the book.

Another great book from my favorite author!

Strasbourg, 1518. Starving and miserable people start turning to the Church for answers - and the Church is as prompt to declare people heretics as the Holy Roman Empire is to declare them traitors.

Lisbet is trying to stay out of political troubles and to cope with her successive miscarriages. While her husband is growing more distant and her mother-in-law more authoritative, her sister-in-law comes back from a seven-years penance in a remote convent. And with this new ally comes the strength for Lisbet to accept herself by dangerously nearing the edge… and to face the dancing plague that takes over the city.

This raw and beautiful book slowly builds a tale of forbidden love and family secrets - an immersive and impassionate atmosphere to lose yourself in, skilfully crafted by the author of The Mercies.

I am a sucker for historical fiction. A beautifully written book set around the 1518 Dancing Plague, a topic I have only briefly encountered before. It was clearly well researched, which made the setting and the characters feel very real.
Without letting out too many spoilers, the novel deals with themes of miscarriage, sexuality, and oppression. It centres mainly around the protagonist Lisbet and her family, however briefly delves into the perspectives of those caught up in the Dancing Plague, which was super interesting and a nice mini break from the main chapters.

An enjoyable, but equally sad story and a book I would recommend to others who enjoy historical fiction.

I have struggled to work out how to write this review, which is why I'm posting it later than I had planned. I've spent weeks avoiding it, unable to word what I'm trying to say.

Let's put it this way:

I first read KMH's middle-grade offering, #TheWayPastWinter, and I liked it well enough, but I wasn't blown away. So then I tried her adult offering, #TheMercies, which I just didn't connect with at all. I then heard the premise of this one, it sounded so different and unusual, I was immediately obsessed and determined to give her another go... but again I felt disconnected from the characters, and my attention drifted.

I'm sad because I WANT to love KMH's novels. I think they have a ton of merit, and I can quite see why people DO love her stories, but they just never gel quite right with me. Sadly, the (admittedly beautiful) prose just isn't for me.

This may sound foolish, but I do still want to give her one last shot. Hear me out. I do feel that KMH writes differently depending on who she is writing for. The level of detail, the depth of emotion, the lyrical style... it all ramps up in her work written for adults, as compared to her work written for children. So I figure that if her writing in her MG was too young for me to properly enjoy, and her writing in her adult novels is too descriptive and lyrical for me to properly enjoy, then just MAYBE her YA is the way to go!? I do have #TheDeathlessGirls on my tbr, so I'm determined to get to it someday and see.

Overall I would say if you enjoyed The Mercies then I think you’ll enjoy this one too; if you didn’t like The Mercies, then you’ll maybe like this one a little better…but will you love it? I think mileage will vary… if beautifully descriptive prose is something you enjoy then absolutely pick this one up!

This is beautifully written in terms of the individual sentences, but it isn't as gripping as The Mercies. The most interesting angle is really the historical event that it's based on. The Dance Tree made me want to read a NF book on the topic. But I didn't feel the fiction version offered much extra content.

Whilst I did not enjoy this as much as Kiran Millwood Hargrave's other books and short stories because I felt it wads very slow to get started, it was wonderfully atmospheric, and by the end I did really feel for the characters and my heart broke a little for the route their plot lines took them. This is the historical novel for you - set against the backdrop of the hottest summer experienced in 1518 Strasbourg where a dancing plague with an unknown cause has struck the women of the city - if you're into the gentle, and the character driven.

It's Strasbourg. 1518. A woman begins to dance. The Dancing Plague has begun, and will last throughout the summer.

We know only a little about this, as not much in the way of records has survived and the main sources we have are not contemporary. Before this date, there are very scant rumours of other dancing plagues, with even less information. Of course, the where and the when, and who rules the roost, get to decide what happened, and given that what we know suggests most of the dancers were female, well...

But that's at least three different historical treatises in one, so I'm just gonna keep going before I get (more) distracted!

I live for weird things like this so I jumped on this with much excitement. Dancing plague, lesbians, family secrets, what's not to love?! To the book, then!

Lisbet is married to Henne. Once he wasn't a prick to her, but she had a few miscarriages and then he only touched her to do his "duty" - and that with his eyes closed. But hey, she’s pregnant again, so he’s back to ignoring her except when he can’t avoid having to acknowledge she exists.

His mother, once as welcoming as her nature allowed, started to hate Lisbet after she began losing babies. That hasn't changed, although Lisbet is now 7 months along and going well this time.

Poor Lisbet is nothing but a baby making wife appliance to both of them. She just needs to be able to take one to term, and make it a boy! After that, aside from being a wet nurse, they mostly won’t need her.

Then there's Nethe. Lisbet's sister-in-law. She's returning home after seven years doing some mysterious penance in a nunnery a days ride away up the mountain. Anyone want to guess what the “penance” is for? Yeah, no prizes for that.

Finally, we have Ivy. Lisbet's best friend, since she married Henne, but former friend of Nethe. Not that she'll talk about her. She seems to get quite jumpy about it, actually…checks above paragraph again.

And it is here, amidst cruelty, religious fanaticism, and starvation, that we enter our tale.

I particularly enjoyed Hargrave's weaving in of the stories of some of the dancers, every few chapters. It would have been easy for the setting to never fully come to life, but this keeps it fresh.

The book takes place during the time of a very particular combination of religious fervence, poverty, & years of bad harvests, freezing winters, and hostile summers. Lisbet has internalised herself as cursed since birth, and women are dancing until their feet bleed and they fall down, sometimes dead.

It's a book which offers the sweetness of honey right beside the bitterness of vinegar. Every good means bad is coming. Yet an ever-present kernel of hope remains.

I could say the power-hungry fanatics–Ida's husband for example–are a caricature, but actually it seems about right for that moment in time. They were often caricatures, they just didn't realise it and everyone else was too afraid to say. Which is also familiar from the current time, oh how we do go in circles.

The Dance Tree is full of the fear and hope, the violence and helplessness, not just of that time, but of this. And as Hargrave points out in the afterword– despite how far we’ve come in so many ways, in others we haven't really progressed at all.

It’s a great book. The story drives forward, always hurtling towards what I felt would have to be some darker end, but the path it takes is constantly twisting and turning. I really enjoyed reading!

The Dance Tree was released on 12th May 2022. Get here on Amazon US or UK, or from your favourite bookstore or library.

Kiran Millwood Hargrave's second novel for adults, The Dance Tree, focuses on the 'dance plague' in Strasbourg in 1518, when there was an outbreak of compulsive dancing that lasted for months. As Hargrave outlines in her afterword, historians still aren't sure what caused this plague: whether it was poisoning by the hallucinatory ergot in rye or mass religious hysteria. The Dance Tree looks at the dance plague from a sideways angle, as the book is narrated by Lisbet, a young married woman who lives outside Strasbourg and is struggling with recurrent pregnancy loss. When the book opens, she is heavily pregnant with another child, and awaiting the return of her husband's sister Agnethe, who was banished to do penance in a nunnery for seven years, although Lisbet does not know why. The dance plague therefore acts as a kind of thematic background to Lisbet's story rather than as the main driving force of the book.

My experience of reading The Dance Tree changed as the book went on. I found the first third captivating: Hargrave's attention to the physical details of Lisbet's life made her world feel real, and I loved the evocative, gentle accounts of her love for beekeeping and her visits to the 'dance tree', where she has hung ribbons as a memorial for her dead babies. It felt like a vastly more successful version of what Hannah Kent was aiming for in the opening of Devotion. Then, the second third of the novel sagged, as it takes too long for Lisbet to discover the truth of why Agnethe was sent away; but this was followed by a gripping final third, which certainly restored the novel's pace but lost some of the quiet simplicity I liked at the start. By the end, I felt like The Dance Tree was less original than I had hoped it would be, and not as good as Hargrave's previous adult novel The Mercies; it's disappointing to see a certain trope turning up yet again, and while I liked Lisbet, sticking largely to her perspective did make it feel like some of the more interesting bits of the story were happening elsewhere. 3.5 stars.

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an arc of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Secondly... phew. The review.

I work in a bookshop and [book:The Mercies|46138193] is one that is always raved about by staff and customers alike. It's still on my TBR, but when I saw a novel about the Dancing Plague in Strasbourg, I was more than intrigued. However, it wasn't quite for me. I'm sure that mad history/historical fiction buffs will love this, and I can appreciate how well researched it is - the time and attention to detail clearly involved in this novel is evident.

I feel like I must have fundamentally missed something about the book, because of all the rave reviews I've seen, when I felt that it was just... fine? The MC is pregnant through the whole book, and has had several miscarriages earlier in her marriage, and I know the only thing women could do in old timey days was give birth (although Lisbet defies this stereotype throughout the book, despite being pregnant through the whole thing, to the point of it being unbelievable), but it just really makes me feel weird boxing women into that particular trope. So from the get-go, I wasn't really vibing.

I also just felt like there was a lot of unnecessary elements? With not much suspense or excitement involved in the plot development. The climax was underwhelming. I don't know. As I said, I wasn't really vibing. And that about sums up my experience. I'll still give The Mercies a go, but I'm not mad on this particular book.

This is an exceptional book, historical fiction at its best. It's the first time I heard about choreomania and I loved how this book represented the women who dance till death and the world they lived in.
There's a lot to love in this book: great characters, a well researched and vivid historical background, great storytelling.
I loved the style of writing and the character development. There's something magic and there's a lot of emotions.
I loved these women and loved the plot.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The Dance Tree, much like Kiran Millwood Hargrave's previous effort, The Mercies, focuses on strong women of historical periods being oppressed and subjugated by men who believe religion and power allow them to treat women so badly. In The Dance Tree we are in Strasbourg in the sweltering summer of 1518. A plague has broken out of women dancing until they drop. Yes, this really happened.

Our main character is pregnant Lisbet who is a master beekeeper and struggling to keep her current child after suffering many miscarriages. Her husband is called away to answer charges related to their bees' honey and wax leaving her with her overbearing mother-in-law and newly returned sister-in-law, Agnethe. Agnethe has been away for seven years serving penance for a mysterious happening Lisbet knows nothing about. The only joy Lisbet has in life are working with her bees and the visits with her best friend, Ida. Once things settle into a new normal for Lisbet, sans husband, life deals her a new challange as two musicians are foisted upon them to house so that they might play music to the dancer thus hastening an end to the plague.

I absolutely loved The Mercies and felt the evil injustice of it keenly. I didn't connect to The Dance Tree in the same way. It is equally eloquent and poetic but didn't draw me in. The emotions of love, need and longing are so well written but I found the dwelling on Lisbet's previous loses, complaints of navigating the world with a bulky pregnant frame and thoughts of her dead mother to be so constant as to irritate me mildly. It's not a criticism but it did wear thin with repetition.

Descriptions of the dance tree, forest, common life chores and standards were exceptional. This was not a clean time period as betrayed by the smell of human filth, bad breath and excrement which were the norm for city dwellers. I loved the idea of the dance tree as a shrine. I can picture it so clearly in my mind and think this place alone would have provided Lisbet with all the mental health space she might need to endure her life as was.

I did enjoy reading The Dance Tree but perhaps not to the same level as The Mercies. It is well written and researched and good glimpse into a different time and place.

The Dance Tree is just the best kind of historical fiction – with its roots in real events and a truly wonderful, emotive story, I loved it! In her author’s note, Kiran Millwood Hargrave says that she took part of The Dance Tree‘s story from a real, unusual happening: ‘Between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, dancing plagues, or choreomania, occurred regularly.’ What is choreomania, you might be wondering? Well, read on…

Let’s take a trip to Strasbourg, 1518. Our lead character is Lisbet Wiler. She lives on a farm – that primarily makes money through bee hives – with her husband Henne and her not very welcoming mother-in-law, Sophie.

Lisbet longs to be a mother but has heartbreakingly experienced multiple miscarriages. This is the heart of the story as Lisbet creates a beautiful tribute to her lost children: 'There at the centre is a thick-trunked linden with a stage built into its branches. A dance tree.'

Lisbet’s dance tree is where she goes to remember her babies and find a moment of solace. Her life is sad but steadily plods along until her exiled sister-in-law, Agnethe (whom Lisbet has never met before) returns to the farm after seven years at a monastery. The atmosphere changes and Lisbet is left with lots of questions. Why was Agnethe exiled? And why is there a strange atmosphere between Agnethe and Lisbet’s best friend, Ida, who is generally nice to everyone?

Scattered throughout Lisbet’s story are vignettes about women and why they dance. These are wonderful windows into the hardships of women, how they are overlooked, have no voice, no once caring for them while they look after everyone. Very relevant in the 16th century but still rings true today for so many women. Choreomania was their outlet, the only way they had left to express themselves.

Author Kiran Millwood Hargrave also shared in her author’s note that she wanted to write a book about a character that experiences miscarriage as it’s something she has experienced but isn’t a common theme in fiction, despite it being something that touches so many women. The Dance Tree is a truly personal story for her and this rings out from every page.

I just adored The Dance Tree. A feminist, emotive, important story that celebrates love and hope and is so, so beautifully written.

This book is stunning, incredible and I have found it hard to get out of my head since I read it. The Dance Tree is based on the dancing plague that struck Strasbourg in 1518, where dozens of women danced - literally - to their deaths. I mean if that topic doesn’t vaguely catch your interest then I’m not sure I can help you ! I mean this is a part of time that’s fascinating, grim at times, but thoroughly addictive as always Hargrave’s’ writing is beautiful, enthralling, heartbreaking and devastating all at once, she really has such a talent. As usual this features complex and interesting, amazing women and the patriarchy, added to it that you include religious fanaticism and you have a book that will definitely stir your emotions. The characters in this are still with me and I have a feeling will be for a long time.
I definitely recommend to anyone who is a fan of historical fiction and interested in women/feminism and the patriarchy

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I'm not sure you can ever be disappointed by this author, and this book is certainly more evidence of that she tells a story that shines a light on the lives of four different women in a captivating and intriguing story that leaves you thinking about it for days.

How this author brings scenes to life in this book, painting the scene of Strasbourg as soon as you open this book is incredible, you can practically smell it (I'm glad you can't going by her description) and it makes for such incredible reading and pulls you in via every sense you own as soon as you begin to read.

The story can leave you feeling a little on edge as the story unfurls and half way through you begin to se the story coming together. The writing is beautifully done (something of a hallmark when it comes to this author's writing for me) and builds a tension and a cast of chracters that make you empathise and connect to so easily.

Just beautifully written, every word feels like a demand for attention and it deserves it, as this story shines a light on relationships, sexuality, domestic abuse, pregnancy and childbirth and the lives of women in historic Europe.

(Thanks to Netgalley/Pan MacMillan for the ARC for honest review).

Wow I have loved this book! I was a huge fan of The Mercies, so was looking forward to this and it has not disappointed.

In the early 16th century in Strasbourg, a dancing mania is occurring. As more and more women join the dancing feet, society struggles to understand or solve what is going on, and things get more and more scary.

Lisbet is a young wife, pregnant for the thirteenth time, her previous twelve pregnancies not having reached full term (this is a significant theme in this book, so be aware if it's an issue that affects you); although the dancing is initially something she can just observe, she soon becomes caught up in the events going on.

At the same time, Lisbet's sister in law Nethe returns from 7 years penance, and Lisbet's best friend Ida starts to reveal some startling secrets.

The characters in this book are interesting, colourful and detailed, their relationships complicated. The explanatory notes at the end of the story fill out the context of the true events that are the story's setting - and these are also fascinating.

If you enjoyed The Mercies then you will love Hargrave’s second adult novel - a story of ordinary women, suppressed and ignored, finding life through extraordinary moments in history. Men once again play a very important role in this feminist fiction novel but unlike The Mercies we actually get to know these men and they feel a lot more nuanced which makes what they do and don’t do all the more significant.

Poetic and melodic, we are never too far from the same atmospheric flourish that The Mercies brought us. Any one who, like myself, is obsessed with the weird and wonderful side of history will already know about the well documented Dance Plague - but if you don’t then get ready for a ride.

Four women centre this novel as we discover the strange and tragic lives of the women in 16th century Strasbourg who are suddenly entrapped in this supernatural dance plague. Misogyny, infertility and mental health are explored through this mystical story and the characters feel well rounded and grounded in reality. As Nature and the supernatural find balance, once again we are treated to Hargrave’s nuanced prose and powerful dialogue as she builds these relationships from the elements of the setting. The heat and the dirt, the bees and the sky become building blocks in her pitch perfect style and pace.

Although I preferred the central relationships in The Mercies, there is the same careful consideration and understanding - Hargrave has found her niche in feminist historical retellings.