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Last year’s most unlikely bestseller was “Matrix,�� a novel by Lauren Groff about an obscure medieval poet named Marie de France and a 12th-century nunnery. Maybe two years of covid seclusion had primed us for a story of monastic adventure, and certainly Groff’s rich style helped the book sing to many readers. But in addition to her enormous fan base �� which includes Barack Obama �� the novel succeeded because it eschewed fusty Christian theology and projected modern feminist ideals onto its ancient canvas.

Now comes Emma Donoghue, another popular and critically acclaimed novelist, with “Haven,�� a monastic story of her own. But Donoghue has ratcheted up the stakes by taking on a trifecta of bestseller killers: First, she moves the clock back even further, to around 600 A.D. Second, she portrays a culture inhabited only by men. And third, her characters live and move and have their being in an atmosphere fully imbued with their primitive Christian faith.

In short, very few readers have been praying for a novel like this. But “Haven�� creates an eerie, meditative atmosphere that should resonate with anyone willing to think deeply about the blessings and costs of devoting one’s life to a transcendent cause.

The novel opens with a kind of preface set at Cluain Mhic Nóis, a relatively new monastery with about three dozen monks in the center of Ireland. Not 200 years have passed since St. Patrick converted the island to Christianity, but. . . .

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post: