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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Bec Kavanagh

Rapture by Emily Maguire review – tale of medieval female pope feels fresh and intimate

Emily Maguire and the ornate book cover for Rapture, featuring a botanical illustration with a small hole in the centre, through which a painted eye is looking
‘Rapture is steeped in history but it wears those trappings lightly; it’s an easy read with plenty of intrigue and high stakes.’ Composite: Allen & Unwin

Emily Maguire has written across fiction and nonfiction, for adults and young people, stepping easily from one to the other across a career punctuated by award wins and shortlistings (including her 2016 novel, An Isolated Incident, shortlisted for the Stella prize, the Miles Franklin and book of the year at the Australian Book Industry awards).

In Rapture, her seventh novel, she turns her hand to historical fiction. Drawing inspiration from the life of Pope Joan, the woman who (according to legend) disguised herself as a man and served as pope for two years during the middle ages, Maguire examines questions of faith using the language of the body.

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