‘Labyrinth might be described as the thinking woman’s summer reading, chick lit with A levels . . . 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 . . . Mosse wears her learning so lightly, knitting her historical research so neatly into her narrative, that we never get the slightest sense of being preached or lectured to. In this she is reminiscent of those twin goddesses of popular historical fiction, Jean Plaidy and Mary Renault’ Guardian
‘Labyrinth is a reader’s Holy Grail, mixing legend, religion, history, past and present in a heart-wrenching, thrilling tale. Eat your heart out, Dan Brown, this is the real thing’
Val McDermid
‘A lovely, intelligent novel of discovery and loss, generous in its historical scope and intimate in its tender details’
Nicci Gerrard
‘An old-fashioned romance cum spiffing adventure story . . . Mosse has done her homework. She puts in lots of colourful, sensual detail about landscapes, clothes, domestic interiors’
The Times
‘It is the freedom to luxuriate in a fully realised work that makes Mosse’s novel such a pleasurable read . . . Mosse infuses each scene with such depth of atmospheric detail that full immersion is inevitable . . . Mosse wields admirable control over the vast body of her material and manoeuvres through it with subtlety and grace’
Mslexia magazine
‘An admirably bold endeavour . . . The settings are evocative . . . There are also some powerful dramatic scenes . . . Overall, the message that “through the shared stories of our past, we do not die” is movingly proclaimed. That life’s true “elixir” is love, “handed down from generation to generation”, becomes beautifully clear and makes an uplifting ending to this intriguing . . . passionate book’
Sunday Times
‘This year’s gripping romp . . . Mosse’s novel is always intelligently written. Her love of the location around Carcassonne . . . is evident from her generous descriptions of the city and the surrounding countryside; and her research into the details of the Cathars’ lives and language is evidently extensive . . . Labyrinth will fulfil everyone’s expectations for it, not least because of Mosse’s passion for the subject matter and her narrative verve’
Observer
‘Labyrinth has all the ingredients of a summer blockbuster’
Daily Mail
‘An elegantly written time-slip novel set in France. There’s medieval passion and modern-day conspiracy, all revolving around three hidden books’
Independent
‘There is nothing like a lovely long luscious journey through the French Pyrenees, and that is what Kate Mosse provides in her latest novel, Labyrinth . . . a spellbinding novel that slips between the present day and the thirteenth century . . . Mosse mixes a Grail adventure with passion and great writing in a book that for once features two feisty lead women’
New Books
‘Prepare to be chilled by Kate Mosse’s archeological thriller’
Red
‘A thumping read: Mosse creates a world so complete I began to miss it before the last page. More intriguing than Dan Brown, a conundrum with lasting depth and vigour, Labyrinth captivates from the first page until the final twist’
Denise Mina, author of Deception