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Worship
Not yet published
Expected 25 Feb 27Irish princess Isode is certain she will marry a king worthy of her, and she believes that king might just be Sir Palomides – if only he would convert to Christianity. Her plans, however, are shattered when a mysterious knight named Tristram defeats her beloved in a tournament. Solitary, handsome, and fast becoming the best knight of all, Tristram has no interest in marrying Isode. He only wanted to win approval – worship – from his idol, Palomides, and a seat with the knights of the Round Table. But after the tournament, Tristram and Isode’s fates are tied, whether they like it or not.
As civil war brews in Camelot, Isode tries to regain control of her once glittering future. Amid turmoil and magic, Tristram and Isode set off on a perilous voyage and begin to see each other in a new light. What if their future holds more than either of them could ever imagine?
As civil war brews in Camelot, Isode tries to regain control of her once glittering future. Amid turmoil and magic, Tristram and Isode set off on a perilous voyage and begin to see each other in a new light. What if their future holds more than either of them could ever imagine?
480 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication February 23, 2027
About the author
Alice Winn
3 books1,305 followersAlice Mary Felicity Winn is an Irish and American novelist and screenwriter, born in France and educated in England. Early life and education Winn was born and raised in Paris, the daughter of Irish and American parents. She holds Irish citizenship. She has dyslexia and did not learn to read until she was nine years old. Winn was educated at Marlborough College in England. She graduated with a degree in English literature from St Peter's College, Oxford. She has described having a "tenuous grasp" of her identity. After graduating, Winn set a goal of writing "a novel a year until I wrote one that was good." Before writing In Memoriam, Winn wrote three unpublished novels, worked on screenplays, and taught homeschooled children. In 2019, Winn started writing In Memoriam after reading student newspapers published 1913–1919 from her alma mater, Marlborough College. The protagonists, Gaunt and Ellwood, were inspired by her readings of and about Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon, respectively. She won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize in 2023 for her novel In Memoriam.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Currently Reading
August 7, 2026Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC 💖💖💖
Want to Read
May 29, 2026Will this book become my whole personality just like in memorium did? Yes, yes I think it will
Want to Read
June 13, 2026Yes 🙌
Want to Read
June 2, 2026WDYM NEW ALICE WINN BOOK??? i need this rn because i still haven't recovered from in memoriam (i doubt i ever will)
July 28, 2026
I knew immediately I would adore this book. It is funny, emotional, heartfelt, heart-breaking. I laughed, I cried, and I can't wait to reread this one.
A beautiful story of love and of friendship, with magic, adventures, battles, and beasts. I did not want it end.
The characters were so well-written - they were complex and imperfect, but still you are rooting for them despite the impending disaster you know is going to happen from page one.
I'll be thinking about this novel for a while, and will be recommending it to everyone.
A beautiful story of love and of friendship, with magic, adventures, battles, and beasts. I did not want it end.
The characters were so well-written - they were complex and imperfect, but still you are rooting for them despite the impending disaster you know is going to happen from page one.
I'll be thinking about this novel for a while, and will be recommending it to everyone.
August 14, 2026
Worship bears little resemblance to Alice Winn’s debut, In Memoriam, and there’s certainly no guarantee that loving the first will make you love her sophomore novel, or vice versa. They’re very different books. Still, I think they reveal a consistent interest of hers. It was precisely those chivalric stories about knights in shining armor that fascinated young men eager to fight in the First World War. Exploring one of these ideas naturally led her back to the other.
But moving to the point, I did like this book. It didn’t completely steal my heart, but objectively, I think it’s a very well done reinterpretation of the Tristan and Isolde story, clearly well researched and written with a lot of heart. I liked that, despite its modern and accessible prose, it still captures the spirit of chivalric romance and Arthurian legend. At the same time, the novel does a really good job of subverting what we expect from such iconic characters as Tristan and Isolde. Alice Winn moves away from the one dimensional archetypes of perfect knights and ladies, instead making her characters much more complex and human. That makes it easier to become genuinely invested in their journeys, even though we know from the very beginning just how tragic and doomed this story is.
The dynamic between Tristram, Isolde, and Palomides was so deliciously love hate that it deserves a whole separate review. There’s so much tension, resentment, affection, and complicated loyalty between the three of them, and I loved how messy and unpredictable their relationships could be.
Of the three main characters, I was most impressed by Isolde, mainly because she was so different from how I’d always imagined her. The same could be said for Tristram to be honest. He’s such a wonderfully conflicted character! I’d never really considered that either of them could be portrayed as flawed and not necessarily likeable or noble, so I really liked Winn moving away from the traditional image of them as idealized protagonists.
As I mentioned, the book’s really well written. It’s engaging, occasionally funny, and easy to get through. I also really liked the balance between the more serious, tragic elements and the lighter, more humorous moments. I flew through it and was hooked from the very beginning.
I also thought the ending worked really well. Without giving anything away, I’ll just say that it felt very fitting given that we’re dealing with a legendary story. And legends, after all, don’t really have just one version.
Overall, I don’t think this’ll be a book for everyone, and it won’t appeal to all fans of Alice Winn’s previous work either. But for anyone longing for classic Arthurian legends with a more modern and relatable feel, I think it’ll be a real treat. I’d give it 4/5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
But moving to the point, I did like this book. It didn’t completely steal my heart, but objectively, I think it’s a very well done reinterpretation of the Tristan and Isolde story, clearly well researched and written with a lot of heart. I liked that, despite its modern and accessible prose, it still captures the spirit of chivalric romance and Arthurian legend. At the same time, the novel does a really good job of subverting what we expect from such iconic characters as Tristan and Isolde. Alice Winn moves away from the one dimensional archetypes of perfect knights and ladies, instead making her characters much more complex and human. That makes it easier to become genuinely invested in their journeys, even though we know from the very beginning just how tragic and doomed this story is.
The dynamic between Tristram, Isolde, and Palomides was so deliciously love hate that it deserves a whole separate review. There’s so much tension, resentment, affection, and complicated loyalty between the three of them, and I loved how messy and unpredictable their relationships could be.
Of the three main characters, I was most impressed by Isolde, mainly because she was so different from how I’d always imagined her. The same could be said for Tristram to be honest. He’s such a wonderfully conflicted character! I’d never really considered that either of them could be portrayed as flawed and not necessarily likeable or noble, so I really liked Winn moving away from the traditional image of them as idealized protagonists.
As I mentioned, the book’s really well written. It’s engaging, occasionally funny, and easy to get through. I also really liked the balance between the more serious, tragic elements and the lighter, more humorous moments. I flew through it and was hooked from the very beginning.
I also thought the ending worked really well. Without giving anything away, I’ll just say that it felt very fitting given that we’re dealing with a legendary story. And legends, after all, don’t really have just one version.
Overall, I don’t think this’ll be a book for everyone, and it won’t appeal to all fans of Alice Winn’s previous work either. But for anyone longing for classic Arthurian legends with a more modern and relatable feel, I think it’ll be a real treat. I’d give it 4/5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
July 30, 2026
thys booke slappeth
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Well, this could hardly be more different from Winn's debut, In Memoriam: where that was written in a realist style, this is modelled on medieval romance, with Le Morte D'Arthur, Chrétien de Troyes, Gottfried von Strassburg, Béroul and Wolfram von Eschenbach all name-checked, amongst others, as sources and inspiration in the afterword; where Memoriam was an intimate exploration of love and desire between two young men, this is a modern retelling of the Arthurian tales, especially the romance of Tristan and Isolde, here given as Tristram and Isode, triangulated with Palomides, and the tone has a similar mythic detachment: events happen in a kind of destined way () replete with fate, magic and and foretold tragedy. There's that kind of fairytale aura where terrible things happen but the violence feels almost cartoonish, with swords broken in people's heads, 'Isode tried to sew his brain back together' - very different from the physical and psychological carnage of WW1 in Memoriam.
Winn is quite self-aware and playfully conscious of her belatedness in relation to this long-established material which is itself full of alternatives and variations, and she allows her characters to make their awareness of the various traditions known through asides and re-wordings: the 'worship' of the title, for example, is a modern elucidation of the chivalric 'honour' that underpinned the medieval courtly romance, with an especial interest here in how it centralised relationships between men; and there is a kind of running commentary that explores the meeting of modern and medieval: '(And, in fact, they were wrong. Palomides was Egyptian. But to the writers of the romances, all heathen countries were the same.)'
This sense of literary reception and intertextuality is made ever more clear as we reach the end:
This reminded me somewhat of Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh without being as rambunctious and iconoclastic as that book: maybe think of Chaucer's The Knight's Tale via Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, brought up to date via a 21st century consciousness.
Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley
Winn is quite self-aware and playfully conscious of her belatedness in relation to this long-established material which is itself full of alternatives and variations, and she allows her characters to make their awareness of the various traditions known through asides and re-wordings: the 'worship' of the title, for example, is a modern elucidation of the chivalric 'honour' that underpinned the medieval courtly romance, with an especial interest here in how it centralised relationships between men; and there is a kind of running commentary that explores the meeting of modern and medieval: '(And, in fact, they were wrong. Palomides was Egyptian. But to the writers of the romances, all heathen countries were the same.)'
This sense of literary reception and intertextuality is made ever more clear as we reach the end:
This reminded me somewhat of Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh without being as rambunctious and iconoclastic as that book: maybe think of Chaucer's The Knight's Tale via Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, brought up to date via a 21st century consciousness.
Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC via NetGalley
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Patiently waiting for my Tarquin the pervert spin off.
This book couldn't be more different than In Memoriam and I am very obsessed with what Alice Winn was able to do here. This might be one of the rare times where I can't begin to sum up a book. I can't think of any comps that do it justice. Worship succeeds in feeling like an Arthurian tale that was retold for a modern audience that was then retold to be an Arthurian legend. It feels so utterly rooted in its source material that it's impossible to forget its origins.
And despite these characters feeling like they were straight from a 12th century tale of chivalry, I ended up caring about them. Not at first, mind you. Throughout the first half, Brangwayne felt like the heart of the novel while other characters were fulfilling their 'role'. She was the one who broke the mould and felt the most real. She carried the heart of the story with Isolde and I loved their chapters. By the second half, Palomides adopted that role with Tristram and Isolde following suit. Being very vague about this: the aspects that felt the most real were the things that existed beyond the constructs of this world. By the end, the characters and relationships all felt very complex - like we were just getting to know them - while still being a product of an Arthurian tale.
Which brings me to the relationships. Oh, I thought this was going to be a fairly standard love triangle, maybe with a dash of homoerotic yearning, and I was very wrong on that account. The way sex and romance are handled had me highlighting way too much. The way heterosexual experiences were described in contrast to the unspoken bonds between characters? Chefs kiss. I could probably write an essay about the queerness and queer subtext, but suffice to say that I loved it.
This was such a unique reading experience, I can already tell I'll be rereading it soon.
(One final pitch: were you a history nerd in your teens? Are you a bisexual? If so, this book may be for you.)
A massive thank you to Penguin, Viking, and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
This book couldn't be more different than In Memoriam and I am very obsessed with what Alice Winn was able to do here. This might be one of the rare times where I can't begin to sum up a book. I can't think of any comps that do it justice. Worship succeeds in feeling like an Arthurian tale that was retold for a modern audience that was then retold to be an Arthurian legend. It feels so utterly rooted in its source material that it's impossible to forget its origins.
And despite these characters feeling like they were straight from a 12th century tale of chivalry, I ended up caring about them. Not at first, mind you. Throughout the first half, Brangwayne felt like the heart of the novel while other characters were fulfilling their 'role'. She was the one who broke the mould and felt the most real. She carried the heart of the story with Isolde and I loved their chapters. By the second half, Palomides adopted that role with Tristram and Isolde following suit. Being very vague about this: the aspects that felt the most real were the things that existed beyond the constructs of this world. By the end, the characters and relationships all felt very complex - like we were just getting to know them - while still being a product of an Arthurian tale.
Which brings me to the relationships. Oh, I thought this was going to be a fairly standard love triangle, maybe with a dash of homoerotic yearning, and I was very wrong on that account. The way sex and romance are handled had me highlighting way too much. The way heterosexual experiences were described in contrast to the unspoken bonds between characters? Chefs kiss. I could probably write an essay about the queerness and queer subtext, but suffice to say that I loved it.
This was such a unique reading experience, I can already tell I'll be rereading it soon.
(One final pitch: were you a history nerd in your teens? Are you a bisexual? If so, this book may be for you.)
A massive thank you to Penguin, Viking, and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
"You'll never win worship if you slaughter everyone who challenges you, "said Palomides
"He had won worship, technically, but it was not the meaningful kind. Not kind the kind of worship Palomides had,where he was loved."
Worship: honour and fame- the measure of respect a knight holds in society.
Following the incredible 2023 'In Memoriam ', Alice Winn returns with a 180 degree turn of a novel; a dive into the world of Arthurian Legends and the story of Isolde and Tristan based upon events from a 15th century book- Le Morte D'Arthur
A love story or should that be a love triangle as Isolde is torn between the loyal Palomides ( who has not been christened but has stood by her side but is disgraced in battle) and the man who killed her uncle Marholt- Tristan ( the man who removes the worship from Palomides) and the love and need for respect between the two men.
This is a tale of knights and maidens; of magic and mysticism; of names you know well from the stories of The Round table- Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain; of swords and fights and blood and guts galore; of loyalty, survival and betrayal.
The sensitivity and melancholic subtlety of a moving love story within ' In Memoriam' is stripped away for something very different- raw, direct and with a contemporary twist.
Not being somebody who watched Game of Thrones or usually reads 'fantasy/legend' based tales, this was a book that didn't grip as I hoped but I know it will for many.
The ceaseless killing which seemed to be the norm left me feeling desensitised which is never a good thing as none of the principal characters seemed to display enough emotional response- perhaps that was the recognised behaviour within these legends. Often the dialogue was contemporary in style which seemed at odds with the setting and events .
There is no denying the originality and the volte face of Alice Winn as she creates a whole different style of writing (which must liberating for an author) and goes from a factually linked novel to fantasy based but by the end of the book I wasn't sure I cared for Isolde or Tristan and poor Palomides went through so much for so little.
3.5 out 5 - rounded to 4 stars for the sheer curious originality
Thank you to Penguin Books and NetGalley for the advance copy for an honest and unbiased review.
"He had won worship, technically, but it was not the meaningful kind. Not kind the kind of worship Palomides had,where he was loved."
Worship: honour and fame- the measure of respect a knight holds in society.
Following the incredible 2023 'In Memoriam ', Alice Winn returns with a 180 degree turn of a novel; a dive into the world of Arthurian Legends and the story of Isolde and Tristan based upon events from a 15th century book- Le Morte D'Arthur
A love story or should that be a love triangle as Isolde is torn between the loyal Palomides ( who has not been christened but has stood by her side but is disgraced in battle) and the man who killed her uncle Marholt- Tristan ( the man who removes the worship from Palomides) and the love and need for respect between the two men.
This is a tale of knights and maidens; of magic and mysticism; of names you know well from the stories of The Round table- Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain; of swords and fights and blood and guts galore; of loyalty, survival and betrayal.
The sensitivity and melancholic subtlety of a moving love story within ' In Memoriam' is stripped away for something very different- raw, direct and with a contemporary twist.
Not being somebody who watched Game of Thrones or usually reads 'fantasy/legend' based tales, this was a book that didn't grip as I hoped but I know it will for many.
The ceaseless killing which seemed to be the norm left me feeling desensitised which is never a good thing as none of the principal characters seemed to display enough emotional response- perhaps that was the recognised behaviour within these legends. Often the dialogue was contemporary in style which seemed at odds with the setting and events .
There is no denying the originality and the volte face of Alice Winn as she creates a whole different style of writing (which must liberating for an author) and goes from a factually linked novel to fantasy based but by the end of the book I wasn't sure I cared for Isolde or Tristan and poor Palomides went through so much for so little.
3.5 out 5 - rounded to 4 stars for the sheer curious originality
Thank you to Penguin Books and NetGalley for the advance copy for an honest and unbiased review.
Review of advance copy
Back on my fantasy revisionist history bs!!! Add this to the list with BETWEEN TWO FIRES, THE EVERLASTING, THE RED WINTER, and THE UNICORN HUNTERS. I would also add this to the list of contemporary authors writing about faith in an interesting way… see also Sarah Perry…
I personally haven’t read anything Tristan and Isolde before, so that was new, but Palomides I know like my old weird uncle. I thought I would get tired of his POVs in comparison to the will-they-won’t-they messy bitch energy of Tristan and Isolde, but Palomides’s religious OCD was interesting enough to keep me hooked when we switched character perspectives.
LOVE the use of weirdo Middle English for conversations that happen within the bounds of courtly love and expectation, and love that they’re always dropping it the more they find their lives don’t fit neatly within that box. Have never seen that before. The anachronism reminds me of Merlin aging backwards in THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING.
Best use of the Questing Beast since TOAFK also, in my experience. What is the search all for, if not for the chance to do it again? And the NPC characters knowing they’re in a loop, knowing this story gets told slightly different each time the way it does throughout history, is just MUAH perfect. THATS conversation with the Arthurian canon.
AND WHAT A BEAUTIFUL COVER. PRE-ORDERING MY COPY ASAP.
I personally haven’t read anything Tristan and Isolde before, so that was new, but Palomides I know like my old weird uncle. I thought I would get tired of his POVs in comparison to the will-they-won’t-they messy bitch energy of Tristan and Isolde, but Palomides’s religious OCD was interesting enough to keep me hooked when we switched character perspectives.
LOVE the use of weirdo Middle English for conversations that happen within the bounds of courtly love and expectation, and love that they’re always dropping it the more they find their lives don’t fit neatly within that box. Have never seen that before. The anachronism reminds me of Merlin aging backwards in THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING.
Best use of the Questing Beast since TOAFK also, in my experience. What is the search all for, if not for the chance to do it again? And the NPC characters knowing they’re in a loop, knowing this story gets told slightly different each time the way it does throughout history, is just MUAH perfect. THATS conversation with the Arthurian canon.
AND WHAT A BEAUTIFUL COVER. PRE-ORDERING MY COPY ASAP.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!
This was an extremely entertaining read. In a nutshell "Worship" can be described as Winn's take on medieval folklore, most prominently "Le Morte D'Arthur", with many other elements mixed within. I especially enjoyed the "love triangle" between Isode, Palomides and Tristram and the magical elements interspersed throughout. Admittedly (and probably intentionally), the tone was, at times, a bit juvenile, however, this was compensated by the characters which had a lot of depth (in particular Brangwayne). I particularly enjoyed the ending which perfectly encapsulated the retelling of a myth as well as the in-depth exploration of interpersonal relationships.
This was an extremely entertaining read. In a nutshell "Worship" can be described as Winn's take on medieval folklore, most prominently "Le Morte D'Arthur", with many other elements mixed within. I especially enjoyed the "love triangle" between Isode, Palomides and Tristram and the magical elements interspersed throughout. Admittedly (and probably intentionally), the tone was, at times, a bit juvenile, however, this was compensated by the characters which had a lot of depth (in particular Brangwayne). I particularly enjoyed the ending which perfectly encapsulated the retelling of a myth as well as the in-depth exploration of interpersonal relationships.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Completely luminous. Bonkers. Joyous. Heartbreaking. Medieval perfection.
Want to Read
June 25, 2026Never needed a book more in my life actually
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