In the blistering heat of the summer of 1518, a lone woman begins to dance and is soon followed by hundreds more.

Lisbet tends to the bees just outside the city walls, heavily pregnant. After seven years in the mountains, her husband's sister, Agnethe returns. And no one will tell Lisbet why Agnethe served a penance there. Everyone seems in on the secret except her.

And in the midst of secrecy, and hysteria about the dancing plague, the farm is threatened. The only respite Lisbet gets from all these worries is her dance tree. But as the summer crawls on, a dangerous love approaches and secrets begin to spill.

I did not want this to end. I loved the careful craft of Hargrave's writing. The emotion that split my heart. The Dance Tree is written with a tenderness, almost like an ode to anyone who knows the struggles of miscarriage and want for children. The delicacy of religion and what it meant in medieval/renaissance for a woman, and for the LGBTQ+ community. For anyone outside of the Holy Roman Empire.

With each novel that Hargrave writes, I find a strengthening. She knows the stories she wants to tell, pictures the way the characters relate to the readers, how the plot moves the reader forward and comments on society. Lisbet is a force to be reckoned with, a majestic character with so many layers that you just want to peel away and find her core.

For me personally, The Dance Tree is Kiran Millwood Hargrave's best novel yet.