Rich with unforgettable characters, gorgeously drawn, and full of captivating historical drama, Eleanore of Avignon is the story of a healer who risks her life, her freedom, and everything she holds dear to protect her beloved city from the encroaching Black Death.
Pandemic, violence, death, antisemitism, graphic medical descriptions.
Provence, 1347. Eleanore (Elea) Blanchet is a young midwife and herbalist with remarkable skills. But as she learned the day her mother died, the most dangerous thing a woman can do is draw attention to herself. She attends patients in her home city of Avignon, spends time with her father and twin sister, gathers herbs in the surrounding woods, and dreams of the freedom to pursue her calling without fear.
In a chance encounter, Elea meets Guigo de Chauliac, the enigmatic personal physician to the powerful Pope Clement, and strikes a deal with him to take her on as his apprentice. Under Chauliac’s tutelage she hones her skills as a healer, combining her knowledge of folk medicine with anatomy, astrology, and surgical techniques.
Then, two pieces of earth-shattering news: the Black Death has made landfall in Europe, and the disgraced Queen Joanna is coming to Avignon to stand trial for her husband’s murder. She is pregnant and in need of a midwife, a role only Elea can fill.
The queen’s childbirth approaches as the plague spreads like wildfire, leaving half the city dead in its wake. The people of Avignon grow desperate for a scapegoat and a group of religious heretics launch a witch hunt, one that could cost Elea—an intelligent, talented, unwed woman—everything.
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“Emotionally riveting and exquisitely told, Eleanore of Avignon is an unforgettable exploration in story form of who we become when all that we love most hangs in the balance. A powerful and compelling debut. I loved it!”
– Susan Meissner, USA Today bestselling author of Only the Beautiful
“Eleanore of Avignon is an ambitious historical novel, but debut novelist Elizabeth DeLozier gives the impression she’s been at this for years. I found myself highlighting certain passages, studying the way DeLozier crafted her characters and their relationships with one another. The story’s protagonist, Elea, immediately drew me in… Eleanore of Avignon is an impressive debut, sure to be loved by readers who also enjoy Maggie O’Farrell and Sarah Dunant.”
– Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary
“Medieval Avignon comes to vivid life in this transportive debut about one brave young woman’s quest to save her home from the horrors of the Black Death. Against this gritty, realistic backdrop, the incredible courage and stubborn love of the novel’s fierce heroine shines with brilliant light. Beautiful and poignant, Eleanore of Avignon reads like a love song to the healers who have always walked among us.”
– A.D. Rhine, authors of Daughters of Bronze
Taste the very first page
The sun is low by the time I reach the woods. I pause at the crest of the hill and look back the way I came, pulling my cloak tighter against the wind.
The river below winds a ribbon of molten gold around the city walls. The bone-white steeple of Notre-Dame des Doms reaches over the rooftops like a scolding finger, the scaffolding of the Palais Neuf rising daily beside it. Even from this distance, frantic hammer blows and the shouts of stone masons echo across the water. When Pope Clement VI arrived in Avignon five years ago he was not sufficiently impressed with the newly built palace of his predecessor, Benedict XII—no, Clement’s palace must be the largest in the world, the most elaborate.
It is a blessing to be out of the city, to breathe the sweet smell of earth instead of urine and woodsmoke. I step off the cart-rutted road into the dappled shadows with my empty basket swinging.
I could sleepwalk this invisible path my mother trod through ancient oak trees, past crumbling Roman walls and forgotten olive groves.
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