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In this extraordinary thriller, rich in the atmospheres of medieval and contemporary France, the lives of two women born centuries apart are linked by a common destiny
July 2005. In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth; between the skeletons, a stone ring, and a small leather bag.
Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade to stamp out heresy that will rip apart southern France, Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father as he leaves to fight the crusaders. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. As crusading armies led by Church potentates and nobles of northern France gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take great sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.
In the present, another woman sees the find as a means to the political power she craves; while a man who has great power will kill to destroy all traces of the discovery and everyone who stands in his way.
© Copyright 2009 by Putnam Adult, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA).
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Critical Praise
"Deeply researched, and thoughtfully written the past comes to life in this big densely-plotted mystery novel from Kate Mosse. The hunt for the Grail is taken up by a modern woman whose search is illuminated by her sense of the past, and by her ancestress whose own tragic story is part of the romance."
--- Philippa Gregory
"A lovely, intelligent novel of discovery and loss, generous in its historical scope and intimate in its tender details."
--- Nicci Gerrard
"Brings the world of 13th century Languedoc beautifully to life... [An] absorbing tale."
--- Birmingham Post
"Magnificent... such a pleasurable read. Mosse infuses each scene with such depth of atmospheric detail that full immersion is inevitable.. the author's vision is epic in scope. Mosse wields admirable control over the vast body of her material and manoeuvres through it with subtlety and grace. [There is a] joyous, whooping pleasure evident in the work of Mosse... [whose] skills are generous and irresistible."
--- Mslexia Magazine
"What really marks LABYRINTH out is the fact that all the main roles --- goodies as well as baddies, historical and contemporary --- go to women. The job of heroine is split between the 13th-century Alaïs, the daughter of one of the leading men in Carcassonne, and Alice, a contemporary British woman who has managed to inveigle her way on to a local archaeological dig as a way of spinning out a lacklustre summer... It is a testimony to Kate Mosse's control over her material that the two narratives never seem to repeat or collide or, indeed, swamp one another...LABYRINTH is saturated with a passionate understanding of the region's past in a way that puts more conventional historical accounts to shame."
--- The Guardian
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