Rapture

LONGLISTED FOR THE STELLA PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA LITERARY FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

'A complex heroine who wrestles with the demands of faith, lust and ambition... A forceful wonder'
The Times, Historical Fiction Book of the Month

'A gripping, gorgeous story of faith and feminism... A rapturous read'
Daily Mail

'A spectacular story of shape-shifting, love and faith . . . It enthralled me'
Jessie Burton, author of The Miniaturist

'Astonishing . . . a scorching vision of a book'
Charlotte Wood, Booker-shortlisted author of Stone Yard Devotional

'A fierce, sexy, heady maelstrom of a book. It sucked me in from the first page'
Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

The legend is only the beginning . . .
Ninth-century Mainz, in the heart of the Holy Roman Empire. Agnes is the motherless child of an English priest - a wild and brilliant girl with a deep, visceral love of God. But when tragedy strikes, she is suddenly forced to choose between what is expected of her and the life she has always dreamed of. Determined to find her own freedom, she disguises herself as a man, securing a place at the revered Fulda monastery and forever altering the course of her existence.

Thus begins the life of John the Englishman: a matchless scholar and scribe of Fulda, then a charismatic heretic in an Athens commune and, by her middle years, a celebrated teacher in Rome. There, she dazzles the Church hierarchy with her knowledge of the old and new languages of Europe, theology and Church law, and finds herself at the heart of political intrigue in a city where gossip is a powerful - and deadly - currency.

And when the only person who knows her identity arrives in Rome, she will risk everything to once again feel what it is to be known - and loved.