In Brief:
It’s July 2005. Dr Alice Tanner is a volunteer on an archaeological dig in the Pyrenees when she is unwisely drawn away from the rest of her group by an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Dangerously dislodging a boulder that she later learns has concealed a cave for eight centuries, Alice stumbles upon two intact skeletons and a carving of a labyrinth that looks oddly familiar to her. The discovery is to provoke the intense interest of the local police, whom Alice immediately distrusts; but too late she realises that her actions have irrevocably placed many lives in danger – including her own. Alice has no choice but to rediscover her distant past, and act on what she learns before her present enemies catch up with her.
In Detail:
Labyrinth features two intelligently headstrong heroines, 17-year-old Alaïs Pelletier from 13th century Carcassonne and modern-day PhD graduate Dr Alice Tanner. It is a grippingly told adventure that skilfully blends the lives of these two women, separated by time but united in a common destiny. Both protagonists display tremendous reserves of courage, steadfastness and loyalty on their respective quests. They also, in the author’s own words, ‘have lovely frocks, sex and swords and don’t hang about waiting to be rescued’!
This is a stunning novel set in both medieval and contemporary southwest France. As the parallel storylines unfold, both ancient and modern-day conspiracies are unearthed, all revolving around three hidden books – The Book of Words, The Book of Potions and The Book of Numbers. Together, these tomes hold the secret of the true Grail, which dates back to the Ancient Egyptian era many years before Christ. The appointed Guardians of the Books, of which Alaïs’s father is one, must devote their lives to the protection of this secret. Meanwhile, back in the present day, Alice faces a race against time to put together the curiously familiar pieces of a jigsaw puzzle representing her long-buried history.
Set against a historical backdrop of religious persecution, Labyrinth also tells the story of a real-life Christian sect, the Cathars, who were a powerful presence in the community of Carcassonne from the late 11th century until the early 13th century. (The failure of military force to eradicate the Cathars led directly to the foundation of the Inquisition.) Seen as a rival to the Catholic Church, Catharism was a tolerant faith offering universal redemption, irrespective of the individual’s creed. It is this compassionate ideology that Alaïs and those closest to her must battle to protect. But in her efforts to also save the Books, Alaïs soon discovers she can trust no one – least of all her cruelly manipulative sister, Oriane.
Labyrinth’s story and colourful cast of characters resonate back and forth between past and present, but what remains constant throughout is a gripping plot and the depth and accuracy of the author’s research into the history and cultural landscape of the region. The language of the Cathars, particularly, is portrayed with richness and authenticity; as well as French snippets (the dialect of their persecutors) there is a fascinating and significant peppering of medieval Occitan words and phrases, with a glossary at the back for the reader’s reference.
Tightly plotted and packed with suspense, Labyrinth sets a new benchmark for adventure writing and gives precursors such as The Da Vinci Code more than a run for their money.
About the author:
Born in 1961, Kate Mosse was educated at Chichester High School for Girls and read English at New College, Oxford. On graduating, she started as a secretary at Hodder and Stoughton and went on to become an editorial director of Hutchinson, Random House. Kate is both the author of four previous books and a broadcaster – she presented BBC Four’s flagship Readers and Writers Roadshow, is the book reviewer for BBC Two’s The Culture Show, and is a guest presenter of Radio 4’s Saturday Review Open Book. The co-founder and Honorary Director of the Orange Prize for Fiction, Kate is additionally a trustee of Arts & Business, and was the first ever female Executive Director of the Chichester Festival Theatre.
In 2000, Kate Mosse was named European Woman of Achievement for her contribution to the arts. Together with her husband Greg Mosse, Kate runs courses for writers as well as the writers’ internet resource www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk. They have two children and divide their time between West Sussex and Carcassonne, southwest France.
Themed questions for discussion:
HISTORY
1. ‘History is a novel that has been lived; a novel is history that could have been.’ Discuss this quotation from E & J de Goncourt with reference to Labyrinth.
2. In the novel’s prologue, there are glimpses of the two time periods. Do you think it is important that, after the prologue, the author starts the novel proper with ten chapters set in the medieval past? How well do you think the twin storylines worked throughout the whole of Labyrinth?
INHERITANCE
3. ‘Last night’s ceremony had been exhilarating . . . she had felt transformed, fulfilled by the ritual and seduced by the power inherited from her grandfather’ (page 205). Consider Marie-Cïcile’s words and discuss the nature of inheritance with reference to other characters in Labyrinth. Can good or evil be inherited or must it be nurtured?
CHARACTERISATION
4. How quickly did you discover that some of the modern characters mirror or echo characters from the past? Which ones did you spot first? What were the clues?
5. ‘Guilhem shook his head. “Can’t you see what she’s doing, Alaïs? She’s trying to turn you against me”’ (page 503). Do you see Guilhem as an unhappy character, who never fully atones for his betrayal of Alaïs, or does he finally put things right?
6. Some of Labyrinth’s medieval characters are real. People with those names lived and breathed in the circumstances narrated 800 years ago. Did you notice anything different about the ‘real’ characters? (For example, Raymond-Roger Trencavel, Agnès de Montpellier, the papal legate and others.)
SETTING
7. Have you ever experienced, like Alice, such an affinity with a place that you seem to know who must have previously lived there and the emotions they enjoyed or endured? How did the novel’s setting(s) contribute to your enjoyment as a reader?
VIOLENCE AND ADVENTURE
8. ‘He raised his arm a second time and plunged his sword into the top of the old man’s skull, splattering red pulp and grey brains into the straw’ (page 196). There are very few scenes of violence in the novel, but those few are very graphic. Do you think they were ‘too much’, ‘not enough’ or ‘just right’?
9. In interviews, Kate Mosse has said that she wanted to tell an adventure story in which active women shaped their own destinies. One journalist called her ‘Wilma Smith’! Is this aspect of the adventure important to your enjoyment of the novel?
RELIGION
10. The 13th century Cathars were surprised by the extent of persecution against them. Although the Labyrinth story and the trilogy of special books have a spiritual element, they exist alongside Catharism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, not as part of any of these faiths. How do you think the novel handles questions of religion? Can you draw any parallels with more recent religious conflicts?
To find out more about the characters and places in Labyrinth, visit www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk.
Suggested Further Reading:
Massacre at Montségur by Zoë Oldenburg
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars 1290–1329 by René Weis
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Boudica series by Manda Scott
Les Femmes Cathares by Anne Brenon
Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
Audiobooks:
Read by Emilia Fox and Anton Lesser, the Labyrinth audiobook is available on CD at £16.99.