Tag: The Burning Chambers

Book review – “The Burning Chambers” by Kate Mosse

The winners of the Women’s Prizes were announced a couple of weeks ago and I was delighted to see that Virginia Evans’s The Correspondent won the Fiction award – I have just completed the book and enjoyed it very much so look out for my review of that one soon. The Non-fiction award went to Lyse Doucet, the outstanding BBC international correspondent whom I have long admired and have seen speaking on many occasions. Her prize-winning debut book, The Finest Hotel in Kabul, has been on my TBR list since it was published last year. But a shout-out must go to the amazing Kate Mosse, co-founder of the Women’s Prize, an extraordinary force for good in the literary world. I have come to her books relatively late, but enjoy them enormously, and have reviewed the Languedoc trilogy on here (I have reviewed Labyrinth and Sepulchre, but not yet Citadel though I have read it.)

I read The Burning Chambers for a bit of light relief when I was having a deal too much of Proust (!), and it was, quite frankly, just what I needed to get a bit of energy back into my reading. It is the first in her series of the Joubert Family Chronicles and begins in Carcassonne in 1562 at the time of the religious wars between the Catholics and the Hugenots. The central character is Minou Joubert, the nineteen year-old daughter of bookseller Bernard Joubert. Bernard’s wife is dead and so Minou’s primary role in the family is to care for her younger siblings Aimeric and Alis. It is noted that Minou does not resemble her brother and sister; for example, her hair is red, flame-coloured, unlike the dark and curly hair of her siblings. This also gives some hint to her character.

The Joubert family is Catholic, in line with the ruling elite in that area at the time, but Bernard’s insistence on religious tolerance has got him into trouble and the business is suffering. While he is away, Minou receives a sealed letter, sealed with a distinctive family crest, bearing only five words: “She knows that you live”. This is the start of a chain of events which will set Minou on a dangerous path. At about the same time she meets, by chance, Piet Reydon, a Dutchman and a Protestant, who has travelled to the area to support a possible uprising against the oppression of the Catholic church. The couple are immediately attracted to one another, but, of course, their initial exchanges are not auspicious. Piet is a wanted man and Minou helps him flee the city; even though she is a Catholic, she has inherited her father’s passionate commitment to freedom of worship. Before he escapes, Piet leaves a valuable religious relic in her safekeeping. Soon after this Minou returns home one day to find that her young sister Alis, a sickly child, vanished whilst the servant had briefly left the house. Minou feels she has no choice but to go in search of Alis, sensing a connection with the mysterious letter, and the ancient religious relic.

Violence erupts in the region and Minou’s flight and search for her sister take place against this backdrop. Mosse is a consummate plotter and alongside the quest and the burgeoning love story between Minou and Piet there is the ever-present threat of capture by Vidal, the former associate of Piet’s now turned cruel and ambitious Cardinal, who intends to eliminate whatever (and whomever) he perceives as a threat to his ascent. 

This is a gripping page-turner of a book that I enjoyed thoroughly and I look forward to reading the next book in the series The City of Tears, which by happy coincidence, I picked up recently in a secondhand bookshop whilst on my travels!

Hot new reads for the Summer

As Britain swelters under a seemingly relentless heatwave, thoughts are turning to holidays, even though perhaps that fortnight in the sun could just as easily be had at home at the moment! So, if you are looking for ideas for your holiday reading list here are some new titles that you might look out for. It’s quite an international list so if you are outside the UK you should be able to find most of these too.

The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse – I haven’t read any Kate Mosse but having just finished The Birth of Venus I am in the mood for historical fiction! Set in 16th century Carcassonne, France, it concerns an elderly bookseller and his family and the impact of the religious wars on their lives.

The Baghdad Clock by Shahad Al Rawi – already a best-seller in Dubai and the UAE, this novel, set in the time of the first Gulf war in 1991, looks at how the conflict affected the ordinary people of the city of Baghdad. When our television screens are full of images of refugees caught up in war, of bodies and of bombed-out buildings, I hope this novel will give us an insight into the reality of the lives of people just like us.

Lala  by Jacek Dehnel – an elderly woman recounts her extraordinary life to her grandson. Born in Poland in 1875 she lived through two world wars, life under communism and then liberation. This book has already won prizes in the author’s native Poland.

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton – set in New York city this novel concerns the increasingly oppressive friendship between two young women, aspiring writer Louise and wealthy social butterfly Lavinia. The two women meet when Louise goes to tutor Lavinia’s younger sister. Their friendship becomes necessary to both of them, but for different reasons, and is characterised by deceit, jealousy and an unhealthy dependency.

The Hour of Separation by Katharine McMahon – McMahon’s The Rose of Sebastapol is one of my all-time favourite books. I haven’t read anything she has written since, but I really like the sound of this novel. Another novel about friendship between two women, Christa and Estelle, this time set in 1939, who have in common Fleur – Fleur was the Belgian Resistance fighter who saved Christa’s father in the Great War. She was also Estelle’s mother. The two women meet just before the outbreak of World War Two.

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh – I loved Moshfegh’s thriller Eileen, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016. Her new novel, published in the UK this week, promises to be equally dark and thrilling. Set in 2000, around the corner in time from 9/11, our narrator is a wealthy young New Yorker. The deaths of her parents while she was studying at Columbia university, a sense of the pointlessness of her own life, and dysfunctional relationships with her so-called best friend and her Wall Street boyfriend, lead her to take a ‘narcotic hibernation’. It is not without consequence.

The Temptation of Gracie by Santa Montefiore – the cover tells you this is going to be perfect for poolside! Gracie Burton blows all her savings on a week-long cookery course in Tuscany, much to the consternation of her daughter Carina and granddaughter Anastasia. The trip turns out to be about more than just mid-life crisis, however, and aspects of Gracie’s past that her family were not aware of, are revealed. Tantalising!

Some of these books are only just out and so may only be available in Hardback, or e-reader – perfect for holiday packing!

What are your recommendations for the summer?

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