The Sundays in Bed With… meme, hosted by Midnight Book Girl, dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning. Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

I’m over 80% through THE DANCE TREE, which is good because it hits shelves in the U.S. very soon. For some reason I thought its publish date was March 11, but it’s actually March 14. Regardless, I think I can finish it today and will likely write my review on Monday or Tuesday. It’s actually not a very long book, but for some reason I seem to be reading it slowly. I don’t know…chalk it up to being on vacation. Or maybe it’s because the writing has a sort of dream-like quality to it, so I have to concentrate on it more.

Anyway, it’s a historical fiction set in Strasbourg in the early 16th century. It’s inspired by true events, so I guess that means there were some women who fell into a dance trance during a hot summer. I honestly have no idea how it’s going to end, so I’m just here for the journey.

About the Book

Author: Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Harpervia
Publish Date: March 14, 2023
Print Length: 256

In this gripping historical novel, the internationally bestselling author of The Mercies weaves a spellbinding tale of fear, transformation, courage, and love in sixteenth-century France.

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 when hundreds of other women join her, the men running the city declare a state of emergency and hire musicians to play the Devil out of the mob. Outside the city, pregnant Lisbet lives with her husband and mother-in-law, tending the bees that are the family’s livelihood. Though Lisbet is removed from the frenzy of the dancing plague afflicting the city’s women, her own quiet life is upended by the arrival of her sister-in-law. Nethe has been away for seven years, serving a penance in the mountains for a crime no one will name.

It is a secret Lisbet is determined to uncover. As the city buckles under the beat of a thousand feet, Lisbet becomes caught in a dangerous web of deceit and clandestine passion. Like the women of Strasbourg, she too, is dancing to a dangerous tune. . . .

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