I absolutely adored spending time with Eleanore - we follow her as she begins her nascent career as a midwife and herbalist in Avignon in 1347, right before the Black Plague rages throughout Europe.  One fun, relevant fact to the story that I learned - there is a whole period called Avignon Papacy where from 1309 to 1376 seven successive popes resided in Avignon rather than in Rome. Eleanore befriends the personal physician of Pope Clement VI, Guigo de Chauliac (based on the real Guy de Chauliac), by providing an herbal tonic that helps the pope and spins that into an apprenticeship with Guigo.  

Eleanore and Guigo's relationship as the plague progresses was phenomenal - I loved reading about the mutual respect and the intertwining of herbalism and humour-based medicine. They both felt incredibly grounded and I was delighted to learn that Guy de Chauliac was a very real person who indeed wrote influential books surrounding the plague and medicine at the time. 

I also felt the echoes of the COVID pandemic within this book and Eleanor and Guigo's struggles as they tried to figure out how to deal with the Black Plague, the tireless research and feelings of helplessness with the people who succumbed. One of my favorite glimpses of this is Elea's attempt at encouraging herself after searching through Guigo's books: "Surely medicine has come so far in the last five hundred years, all it will take is one breakthrough--one brilliant reading of an ancient text in which a cure or cause is illuminated--and we shall stop this disease in its tracks." That same helplessness will feel so similar to any reader with even an ounce of empathy. I should not have been surprised to read in the Author's Note in the end that this was in fact quite intentional by Elizabeth DeLozier, even if the idea of the novel came before the pandemic. 

In the shadows of the pandemic though, we get to know Elea and the people that surround her so much more - her sister, Margot, her house keeper, Anes, the Queen, Paolo. There is a rich cast of characters and you grow to care about each one so much. 

Even as someone who is not usually a huge historical fiction fan, this book completely won me over and I highly recommend to anyone - part coming of age, part historical novel, part love story and so much more than can be categorized. Also PS the dog comes out okay (I was so worried the whole time)

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Dutton for the advanced copy.