Review of Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier

DeLozier's debut novel is richly detailed historical fiction set in fourteenth-century Avignon. Eleanore is an herbalist who finds herself thrust into the role of an essential healer as the Black Death looms, dangerous rumors of witchery threaten, and she juggles family, a forbidden romantic interest, and her own shaky future.

In Elizabeth DeLozier's historical fiction Eleanore of Avignon, it's 1347, and the titular character Eleanore is a young midwife and herbalist in Avignon living with her beloved, betrothed twin sister and their kind father.

Eleanore is in the woods gathering herbs when she has a happenstance meeting with Guy de Chauliac (Guigo), the personal physician to Pope Clement. Eleanore talks herself into the role of his assistant and shares her deceased mother's tried-and-true herbal remedies, while he teaches her about surgery and allows her access to a rich library of knowledge.

Her class, her gender, and the pervasive rumors of witchery involving her mother threaten to destroy Eleanore before she can even begin her future. At various turns, DeLozier showcases historically accurate, dangerous demonstrations of men's fears of capable, educated women.

Eleanore's sudden access to Pope Clement as an increasingly respected and effective healer means that the scope of her world explodes. She occasionally speaks frankly in front of the Pope or asks blunt questions, and this feels satisfying to me as a reader, however unlikely that may have been. When a pregnant, storied Queen Joanna arrives in Avignon to stand trial for the murder of her husband, Eleanore is presented to her as her midwife, and Eleanore's power--and the danger if she should fail--grows.

When the looming, terrifying Black Death reaches their lands, Avignon citizens, friends, and family members begin dying horrible deaths, and some days it seems that only Eleanore and Guigo, desperate to understand the disease's nature and treatment, stand between the plague and the decimation of their city's entire population.

A dark, deranged figure from Eleanore's past reemerges, spouting rumors of witches and growing in influence. When Guigo falls ill, Eleanore tries to hold together all the pieces of her world and each of her immense challenges without being destroyed herself.

Eleanore's sudden access to great figures is overly convenient, but this moves the story along nicely. DeLozier's research into the Middle Ages, plague, and the city of Avignon feels evident, and I particularly enjoyed the details that made the time and place feel immediate. The religious fervor, fears, and the queasily specific medical practices of the time (lancing buboes! cleansing the blood! burning fires to clear the air!) help the story come alive.

Romantic storylines for the twin sisters diverge and serve as important elements in the plot and in the young women's character development.

I liked the book's ending!

More Books You Might Like

I listened to Eleanore of Avignon as a library audiobook via Libby. One of my favorites, Saskia Maarleveld, is the narrator.

Elizabeth DeLozier's second book, The Whitechapel Full Moon Society, set in Victorian London, is slated for publication in August 2026.

If you're interested in other books about female doctors, please check out the titles at this link.