Monthly Archives: October 2021

Labyrinth – Kate Mosee

Labyrinth – Kate Mosse

I do like historical fiction and a friend recommended this one (and what was even better lent me her copy).

Here is the blurb …

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. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. 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. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.

It reminded me a bit of the Da Vinci Code – the intrigue, the hunt for the grail. I enjoyed it, particularly the sections set in the medieval time. Its three out of five for me.

I think anyone who likes historical fiction, plus intrigue and suspense will like this novel. I have the next one Sepulchre in my tbr pile (also from the very kind friend)

Review

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Filed under 3, Historical Fiction, Recommended

Museum of Words – Georgia Blain

The Museum of Words – Georgia Blain

A friend recommended Georgia Blain and I found this one in the library.

In late 2015, Georgia Blain was diagnosed with a tumour sitting right in the language centre of her brain. Prior to this, Georgia’s only warning had been a niggling sense that her speech was slightly awry. She ignored it, and on a bright spring day, as she was mowing the lawn, she collapsed on a bed of blossoms, blood frothing at her mouth.

Waking up to find herself in the back of an ambulance being rushed to hospital, she tries to answer questions, but is unable to speak. After the shock of a bleak prognosis and a long, gruelling treatment schedule, she immediately turns to writing to rebuild her language and herself.

At the same time, her mother, Anne Deveson, moves into a nursing home with Alzheimer’s; weeks earlier, her best friend and mentor had been diagnosed with the same brain tumour. All three of them are writers, with language at the core of their being.

The Museum of Words is a meditation on writing, reading, first words and last words, picking up thread after thread as it builds on each story to become a much larger narrative. This idiosyncratic and deeply personal memoir is a writer’s take on how language shapes us, and how often we take it for granted — until we are in danger of losing it.

This is an extraordinary memoir; beautiful and heart-wrenching.

A review

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Filed under 4, Memoir, Recommended