Canticle

A Novel

By: Janet Rich Edwards

Narrated by: Lucy Rayner

Set in thirteenth-century Bruges, this debut novel follows a young woman’s explorations of faith, agency, and love among a community of fiercely independent women.

Aleys is sixteen years old and unusual: serious, stubborn, prone to religious visions. She and her only friend, a young scholar, have been learning Latin together in secret—but just as she thinks their connection might become something more, he abandons her for the monastery. When her family falls on hard financial times, her father promises her in marriage to the unctuous head of the weavers’ guild, and in desperation she runs away from home, eventually finding shelter within a community of religious women who do not answer to the church.

Among the hardworking and strong-willed Beguines, Aleys glimpses for the first time the joys of belonging: a life of song, friendship, and time spent in the markets and along the canals of Bruges. But forces both mystical and political are afoot. Illegal translations of scripture, the women’s independence, and a sudden rash of miracles all draw the attention of an ambitious bishop—and bring Aleys and those around her into ever-increasing danger, a danger that will push Aleys to a new understanding of love and sacrifice.

Introducing a spirited, indelible heroine and a major new talent, Canticle is a luminous work of historical fiction, vividly evoking a world on the verge of transformation.

©2025 Janet Rich Edwards (P)2025 Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks

Deep and weighty

This book delivered exactly what I want when I pick up historical fiction: an old world that speaks to now, characters I care about, a problem that needs solving in such a way that I can’t look away until the end. Canticle is an imagining of a mystic in Bruges, with a view of the Beguine community (whom I knew nothing about!). Multi-voiced but with a clear heroine, I really loved the world, the characters, and the trouble. Beautifully written and narrated, this book did not disappoint. Well done!