Labyrinth

I just finished a novel that brought back such memories for me. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse is set in southwest France, the Languedoc, in and around Carcassone. It's a book replete with medieval history, Crusaders, the Cathars and legends of the Holy Grail. While it's fiction, Ms. Mosse has done extensive research on the period she writes about, i.e. the 13th century. The story is what she calls a 'timeslip;' it moves back and forth between the 13th century and the 21st century. Various characters are mirrored across the millenia. Alice Tanner is an ancestor of Alais Pelletier du Mas and bits of memory of Alais' life in medieval France haunt Alice's thoughts and dreams. Competing secret societies seek the Grail; Alice as a volunteer on an archaelogical dig in the Sabarthes Mountains stumbles on clues that will lead everyone to the Grail's mysteries. 21st century murder and magic mimic the mayhem of the 13th century. Does Alice really 'stumble' or is she lead by the influences Alais, Guilhem and Escarlmonde across the centuries? Is she able to bring rest and peace to the restless souls who protected the Grail from the onslaught of the only Crusade mounted inside France? Is there a way for her to avenge the deaths of thousands of Cathars burned by order of the King of France and the Pope? If you love medieval history, this novel is for you. Fictional characters in a story interwoven in real history and real people. And it will be even more meaningful if, like me, you've visited this part of France, climbed the pog to Montsegur and journeyed through Cathar land.