Groff’s new novel ‘Matrix’ inspired by Marie de France

By CHAD G. WELCH • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

Award-winning author Lauren Groff’s sixth novel “Matrix,” was released this month to rave reviews, including earning four stars from USA Today and a National Book Award nomination from The National Book Foundation.

USA Today critic Steph Cha called the book “a relentless exhibition of Groff’s freakish talent,” and New York Times critic Kathryn Harrison wrote “it provides Groff a literary springboard into a past whose features offer a mirror to our own time.”

“Matrix” is a historical fiction novel based on Marie de France, the first French female poet best known for her collection of 12 narrative poems titled “The Lais of Marie de France” written during the 12th century.

As the back cover copy explains, “Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie’s vision be bulwark enough?”