Goodreads' ratings suck because I don't fall in love with a lot of books. Does it merit one star? Two?

The Dance Tree follows Lisbet, a young woman in 16th-century Strasbourg during the Dancing Plague, whose sister-in-law comes home after a mysterious seven years in penance. Her best friend is acting weird, her husband doesn't seem to love her anymore, and her mother-in-law is a witch. Oh, and women are starting to dance randomly in town for days on end.

What ensues is a drama anyone with a pulse could see through immediately, leaving the reader having to pretend they didn't figure out the big lesbian secret for over a hundred pages, and then the ending aftwards. I hate to be a hater, but this just didn't work as well as it could have. It's not terrible—just so meekly passing that it's a bit insulting. The prose is overwrought in a way that is unfortunately very in style right now, too saccharine and not thoughtful enough to lend itself to any overarching theme, instead relying on its imagery and "poetics" to cover the prose's lack of meaning. To add insult to injury, the plot is predictable and consequently annoying. The characters are equally stock-still and caricatures of themselves, and there is an undeniable modernity to the way they all act, think, and carry themselves.

So, I’m raising this to two stars beyond these criticisms because it is not a terrible book. It’s fine. It is just thoroughly whatever.

Who is this for? After such high reviews, I wanted to read the author's book The Mercies, but I just don't know anymore. I need to pick better. ( )

‘The Dance Tree’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a beautiful exploration of “otherness“ in a time when that otherness was feared, or hated or condemned. But more specifically, it is set during an oppressively hot summer in 1518 where a dancing plague has gripped a nearby city. As this plague goes from 1 girl to hundreds, we spend most of our time with a woman who lives in the country, who is very pregnant, tending to beehives and learning who her sister-in-law is after a seven year banishment for an untold sin. Lisbet has lost every child before the one she carries now, long before childbirth. This is caused a great emptiness in her and complicated, her relationship with her husband and her mother-in-law in the world around her. And while she has found a way to live and created a memorial of sorts, for these lives lost, she must keep it secret and hidden. She has lived a life of great pain. But her suffering allows her a connection to and an empathy for other people. It does not glorify her suffering or the suffering of anyone else, instead the novel shows how much torment was caused by the rules and powers of the times. The novel shows how fear was used as a tool to guide those wanting into the service of the people creating want, and the desperation that was felt in every corner.

The author looks at racism, homophobia, and the misunderstanding of women’s bodies in the ways in which persecution based on these things, is both similar and different, and implore you to see the importance of empathy and solidarity against the world that would snuff you out.

While, the story of the “dancers“ receives less page time, then the more intimate aspects of the plot we do get deliberate and tender glimpses into the lives of those women. I really appreciate it that detail, and found that it kept what was happening, feeling real and connected to our characters at all times. Karen Millwood Hargrave is a master at crafting dynamic and intricate characters, no matter how little time we spend with them.

One quick and important note that I want to make is that this book is not about all men being the enemy. It acknowledges the importance of kind and good men, their necessity and their existence. And give us the reminder that evil is often made, and that a little boy is a little boy And must be molded into a devil.

And finally, this is a book about miscarriage and spends great time exploring that aspect of womanhood and motherhood. It is meant to honor those who have experienced this great pain, and is done so with a careful touch. I think it’s important to know, though, going in.

I will read anything Kiran Millwood Hargrave writes. I’m always grateful for her vulnerability, honesty, and palpable effort to see the ways in which we are all connected. ( )

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The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a historical fiction novel taking place in 16th Century when a dancing plague affected women. Ms. Hargrave is an award winning writer and poet.

Lisbet and her family are about to lose their farm and her bees to the Catholic church because… well… the church wants it. While her husband goes to try and fight their lot, pregnant Lisbet joins him together with Nethe, the sister who just came back from seven years of penance for something Lisbet is not privy to.

As they go to the big city, a dancing plague affected the city’s women. No one understands it and the church tries to figure out if it’s the work of angels or demons.

I’ve enjoyed The Mercies by the author previously, and I saw her new book I wanted to give it a shot. The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave has a lot going for it, however, I felt that the plot never got going and the ending was anticlimactic.

The protagonist, Lisbet, a pregnant woman who suffered many miscarriages, and tragedies, and basically has a difficult life overall was an interesting character. However, I thought her growth and revelations were misdirected at some point.

The dancing plague was very interesting to read about, and I even read a bit more on it. However, much like the Salem Witch Trials, the lessons are not learned. The importance of impartial judges, the dangers of mixing religion with the state, and most importantly being aware of the work fear and ignorance play.

The story has a lot going for it, faith and the loss of it, a loss of trust in public leaders, prejudice, fanatics who believe everything is allowable and “good” if it’s for their own cause, familial relationships, and hierarchy, religion as the source of violence, and more.

As much as I enjoyed the book, it seemed more like a creative writing exercise than a finished product. At around the halfway mark, I started to lose interest, history and flowery language aside. ( )

Summer 1518 is the hottest anyone can remember and the city of Strasburg wilts. A woman starts to dance in the square, possessed by religious fervour, but she is joined by hundreds more. The authorities try all in their power to drive the demons from the women. Meanwhile Lisbet tends to her bees outside the city. She is heavily pregnant with a longed for child. However her existence is threatened by events involving her sister-in-law who is newly returned from seven years penance.
Mixing religious fervour with old-fashioned revenge and the prejudice against outsiders either by race or by sexual orientation makes this a seemingly busy book. However the pace is gentle for most of the time and it matches the slow, heat-ridden atmosphere of the story. The writing ramps up when there is action and the whole is both fulfilling and exciting. A great read. ( )

In 1518, hundreds of people from Strasbourg started dancing uncontrollably without resting, sometimes for days on end. It was a medieval dancing plague where people danced until their feet bled and beyond, some of them literally danced themselves into an early grave. What compelled these people living in what we now call France to dance to their deaths? Why did they start? And why - or how - did they stop? Was it demonic possession? Fungus in their bread? Religious fervour? It's a mystery that's always fascinated me.

Now, Kiran Millwood Hargrave has given us The Dance Tree; an historical fiction novel about the dancing plague. Yes please!! I was so onboard for this, wondering what a skilled author would do with such unexplainable phenomena.

Set in Strasbourg in 1518, the author did an excellent job depicting the town, homes and livelihoods of the residents. Much of the novel put me in mind of the start of Devotion by Hannah Kent, the beginning of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Familiars by Stacey Halls. The bare living conditions, the importance of religion in the community, the lack of agency held by the female characters and their resilience and sheer determination are elements I've enjoyed exploring in the past.

Here, our main characters are Lisbet, Ida and Nethe and they're each making the best of their circumstances. Lisbet is a homemaker desperate for children and some of my favourite parts of the novel were passages where Lisbet tends to her beehives, her greatest passion in the world.

The tree of the title is a special and sacred place, as we learn early on:

"She’d recognised it instantly for what it was: a dance tree. A doom tree. A relic of the pagans who had their churches open under God." Page 39

The tree isn't crucial to the story, however it's significant to Lisbet and soon becomes a type of safe haven. When the women begin dancing in public, rumours quickly spread but Lisbet wants to see for herself.

"Why do you think those women dance? Because there is no earthly way to be saved. You and Mutter [Mother] have told me enough times - Strasbourg is sliding Hellwards. And we women, we bear the brunt. We are bred or banished, and always, always damned. Prayers cannot help us, the priests will not help us." Page 153

The Dance Tree is inspired by true events, and just as in The Mercies (inspired by true events in a different country a century later in 1617), the author offers valuable information on the events contained within the novel in her Author's Note at the end.

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave is highly recommended for fans of historical fiction and I can't wait to find out what event in history she'll write about next.

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan * ( )