Together with these two elements, her personal experience, and the historical setting, KMH has designed a story in which love, family relationships, cultural conflicts between West and East, and LGBT+ concerns and claims all carry a weight. In the midst of all this sadness and worry, however, there are occasions of real joy within this story, written beautifully. In the background of the book, is a hungry woman, near death with starvation, who begins to dance, almost trance-like in the city square.

What Hargrave has done here has taken this slightly bizarre historical factoid and breathed life and humanity into it. Lisbet is my attempt to offer a mirror to anyone else struggling to see themselves, and a window to those who might need the insight. What interested me into this story was the time period of plaque in the 16th century Europe and women who faced the religious obsessions. Strasbourg, 1518, where the Religious Council of 21 aligns themselves as God, and will punish anyone who steps out of line in their eyes. Here, we find Hargrave’s voice polished and practised; words flow into passages, pages into chapters, and the narrative spills and pools like honey overrunning from Lisbet's bee combs.Nor is there any superfluous scene in ‘The Dancing Tree’; midway, I feared there just wasn’t going to be enough of this gorgeous book to enjoy. This is part of a continued theme throughout the book of focusing on the lives and personhood of the women of this story, and rooting the answer to why the plague happened in their lives and experiences and psyches. 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.

Whilst not enjoying this one quite as much as 'The Mercies', I still found it an engrossing and enjoyable read, demonstrating yet again how Christian beliefs were manipulated by those men in power to subjugate the population, in particular the female sex, and what this eventually resulted in. Not what I quite was expecting; which was a book dealing with the dancing plague (actually happened - Strasbourg, 1518, still undecided as to the cause, ranging from mania to ergot poisoning). Her book The Mercies, which I have not read, seems to take a similar line to this new book: both are based on historical events and tell the stories of strong women battling against the patriarchal and superstitious culture of medieval Europe. In the hot summer heat there’s a ‘Dance Plague’ in Strasbourg, it begins with a woman dancing in wild abandon for days, nobody can stop her and she doesn’t take food or rest, it’s almost as if she is in a trance.

I imagine that the author has been able to bring this novel to life so richly because it echoes her personal experience. Less description on a surface level and deeper characterisation would have provided greater scope for complexity in the narrative that would have elevated the novel. Following in hot pursuit now is her second foray into historical fiction, The Dance Tree, and fans of the first will recognise much of what they enjoyed appearing in this sophomore work. Added to that are Lisbet’s friend, Ida, and her husband, who is one of the Twenty One, a feared law-enforcing organisation, and a couple of musicians who are brought in to try end the dance plague, then you have a gently moving story, but with the dancing mostlyas a back drop. Then an evil wizard came along and, envious of the joy I got from these books, cast a spell upon me.

Whereas metaphorical language should offer deeper revelation, at times, it does read here as excessively ornamental where style is prioritised over substance. Their intention is to oppress women and nature, and steal anything that makes money in a time of hunger and starvation. it all ramps up in her work written for adults, as compared to her work written for younger readers. I think mileage will vary… if beautifully descriptive prose is something you enjoy then absolutely pick this one up! The entire book pulsates and hums with anxiety, fear, oppressive patriarchy, and loss as Lizbet and others seek any little morsel of joy to hold onto in the age of repression and control.I was intrigued that the dancing seemed to occur around St Vitus Day, and it made me wonder if this was the origin of the phrase I have heard used referring to restless people having 'St Vitus's Dance'! That Milwood Hargrave can turn a beautiful sentence isn’t in question, but future work would benefit from the more considered deployment of this talent. Set in Strasbourg, in 1518, the fiction is inspired by a dancing plague which historical accounts suggest sent the city into a mania for three months of relentless dancing in the streets. The setting is Strasbourg in the sweltering summer of 1518, when a dancing plague (choreomania) hit and hundreds of women engaged in frenzied public dancing, often until their feet bled or even, allegedly, until 15 per day dropped dead.

The story is compelling with realistic, wonderfully shaped, and diverse characters, both likeable and not.I first read KMH's middle-grade offering, The Way Past Winter, and I liked it well enough, but I wasn't blown away. She is late in pregnancy as the novel opens, hopeful this child will live but fearful given her failed pregnancies of the past. Her debut YA novel The Deathless Girls was published in 2019, and was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize, and long listed for the CILIP Carnegie Medal. This novel uses language as a spell, drawing the reader into the emotion and longing of each character, shedding light on this uniquely dark era of human history. Lisbet irá questionar-se a medida que convive com a cunhada com o crime que poderá este acometer, principalmente quando sente-se segura em partilhar segredos com ela e entende que poderá a sociedade estar errada no que se pode considerar pecado.