New historical novels reveal women's hidden battles for freedom across centuries

Two new historical novels, Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards and Skylark by Paula McLain, delve into the lives of women forced into seclusion across different centuries. Both books examine the consequences of female defiance in societies that feared women’s independence and alternative forms of power.

The stories follow young women—Aleys in 13th-century Bruges and Alouette in 17th-century Paris—whose struggles reveal deep-rooted trauma for individuals and broader civilisation. Canticle centres on Aleys, a young woman in medieval Bruges who initially dismisses the Beguines—a semi-religious community of women—as reckless. After her mother, who secretly embroidered stories from forbidden books, dies, Aleys is drawn into their world. She discovers their hidden work translating scriptures and is eventually expelled, only to be cloistered as an anchorite in a cathedral wall.

Aleys’ journey begins when Brother Lukas witnesses her defiance and pushes her toward religious life. Though she resists at first, she later finds purpose in the Beguines’ secret knowledge—until their practices lead to her punishment.

In Skylark, Alouette Voland, a skilled dye-maker in 17th-century Paris, protests her father’s arrest and tries to reclaim her arsenic-based dye recipe. The authorities imprison her in the Salpetriere asylum, where she masters dye techniques but remains trapped by male-controlled traditions. Like Aleys, she forms alliances with other women and attempts escape, eventually finding refuge in a coastal town.

The novel extends into the 20th century through Kristof Larsen, a Dutch psychiatrist in Nazi-occupied Paris. He aids Alouette’s descendant, Sasha, in fleeing through the city’s sewers, linking generations of women resisting oppression.

Both books underscore how female creativity, resistance, and shared knowledge persist despite systemic suppression. The characters’ struggles reflect centuries of fear around women’s autonomy and the lasting scars it leaves. The novels trace a pattern of confinement and quiet rebellion, from Aleys’ cloistering to Alouette’s asylum imprisonment. Their stories highlight how women preserved knowledge and defiance even under extreme restrictions.

Through different eras, the books show that while institutions sought to erase female agency, the work of women—whether in embroidery, dyes, or survival—endured.