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The Rebel Nun
Want to see The Rebel Nun as a movie? So do I! Here's how I'd cast it: http://americareads.blogspot.com/2021/03/marj-charliers-rebel-nun-movie.html
A fascinating novel based on the true story of a rebellion led by nuns against the church in sixth-century Gaul
Clotild, the daughter of a sixth-century king and his slave, leads a rebellion of nuns against the rising misogyny and patriarchy of the Medieval church.
At that time, women were afforded few choices in life: prostitution, motherhood, or the cloister. Only the latter offered them any kind of independence, but by the end of the sixth century, even that was eroding as the church ejects women from the clergy and seeks to control their monasteries.
Craving the legitimacy thwarted by her bastard status, Clotild seeks to become the next abbess of the female Monastery of the Holy Cross, the most famous of the women's cloisters at the time. When the Bishop of Poitiers blocks her election and seeks to control the nunnery himself, Clotild masterminds an escape, leading a group of nuns on a dangerous pilgrimage to beg her royal relatives to intercede on her behalf. The bishops refuse to back down, and a bloody battle ensues.
Will Clotild and her sisters succeed with their quest, or will they face excommunication and possibly even death?
In the only historical novel written about the incident, The Rebel Nun is a richly imagined story about a remarkable heroine.
New! I created a video to celebrate the new paperback edition of The Rebel Nun. Check it out on YouTube!
Available Now! in audio, ebook, paperback and hardcover
Published by Blackstone Publishing and Blackstone Audio, 2021
South Dakota Festival of Books
All events cancelled due to COVID
Praise for The Rebel Nun
The Rebel Nun vividly imagines one of the most fascinating events to occur in sixth-century Gaul, bringing into focus the complexity of the early centuries of Western Christianity as the Church struggled to define its positions on clerical celibacy, the role of women, pre-Christian traditions, and its relationship to secular power. Scholars have long been fascinated with Gregory of Tours’ account of how a rebellion of nuns from the monastery of the Holy Cross in Poitiers supposedly resulted in acts of murder, plunder, and unplanned pregnancies. It is a moment that has been calling out for a writer to do it justice in a work of historical fiction, but which feat no one has dared to attempt—until now. Marj Charlier’s The Rebel Nun brings the sights, sounds, and smells of this event and its aftermath to life in a richly imagined story that is firmly rooted in equal parts rigorous historical research and inspired, creative imagination.
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DORSEY ARMSTRONG, PhD
Professor English and Medieval Studies,
Purdue University
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Thwack!
Gracie's Revolution
Hacienda: A South American Romance
Jackie's Campaign
Professional Lies
Marcia's Revenge
Romance Novellas and Novels by Marjorie Pinkerton Miller*
Romancing the Dog: 3 Novellas
One Way to Succeed
No Way to Win
*Marjorie Pinkerton Miller is the romance pen name for Marj Charlier
Other Books by Marj Charlier
About me
Historical fiction has taken me hostage. For years, I wrote contemporary women's fiction, but now, I am addicted to stories set in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages in Gaul and Spain.
My next novel is about the great diaspora of the fourth and fifth centuries in Western Europe.
I spent my childhood in rural Iowa, went to college in Iowa, Wisconsin and Denver, and worked for the first 20 years in journalism, including 12 at the Wall Street Journal. I spent another 20 years in financial communications and corporate philanthropy, before retiring to write novels.
I now live in Palm Springs, CA, where I play (poorly) a little golf with my very tolerant husband.
