The Dance Tree
- Author Kiran Millwood Hargrave
- Narrator Ruta Gedmintas
- Publisher Pan Macmillan
- Run Time 9 hours and 17 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Family life fiction, Historical fiction, Historical romance, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Interior life, Narrative theme: Love and relationships.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- $15.99
- $14.99
- $13.99
- $12.99
- $11.99
Listen to a sample
What to expect
'Exceptionally brilliant. Immersive, sensual, compelling' - Marian Keyes
'Intriguing, haunting . . . raw, beautiful' - Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne
The gripping, historical novel from Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Mercies.
Set in an era of superstition, hysteria, and extraordinary change, and inspired by the true events of a doomed summer, The Dance Tree is an impassioned story of family secrets, forbidden love, and women pushed to the edge.
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 as she is joined by hundreds of others, the authorities declare an emergency. Musicians will be brought in to play the Devil out of these women.
Just beyond the city’s limits, pregnant Lisbet lives with her mother-in-law and husband, tending the bees that are their livelihood. And then, as the dancing plague gathers momentum, Lisbet’s sister-in-law Nethe returns from seven years’ penance in the mountains for a crime no one will name.
It is a secret that Lisbet is determined to uncover. As the city buckles under the beat of a thousand feet, she finds herself thrust into a dangerous web of deceit and clandestine passion, but she is dancing to a dangerous tune . . .
'Extraordinary . . . An exceptionally atmospheric, original story' - The Sunday Times
'Spellbinding' - Elodie Harper, author of The Wolf Den
Critics Review
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Extraordinary . . . enthralling . . . An exceptionally atmospheric, original story
Sunday Times, Historical Fiction Book of the Month -
The Dance Tree is unusual and beautifully written, and the questions it raises about faith and love linger. The vignettes of the lives of the dancing women are a joy, each a perfect little short story dropped into the main narrative
The Times -
Exceptionally brilliant. Immersive, sensual, compelling and totally convincing. Accessible, ambitious, The Dance Tree deserves to win prizes
Marian Keyes -
An intriguing, haunting novel pulsing with raw, beautiful emotion. Kiran Millwood-Hargrave effortlessly intertwines the stories of women tenderly and sympathetically, creating a novel in which female courage and resilience shines brightly against a brilliantly evoked backdrop of claustrophobic horror.
Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne -
Some historical novels don’t just describe the past, they transport you there . . . I absolutely loved this book . . . an exceptionally beautiful portrait of women from the past, told in the most spellbinding prose
Elodie Harper, author of The Wolf Den -
Kiran Millwood Hargrave has a masterly ability to summon the past to the page. The Dance Tree vibrates with urgency; its vivid, compassionate evocation of women and their desires in a time of patriarchal control and mass hysteria is a timely reminder of how far we have come, and how far we have to go
Hannah Kent, bestselling author of Burial Rites
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