Tag Archives: labyrinth

Labyrinth – Amanda Lohrey

Labyrinth – Amanda Lohrey

I can’t remember how I came to have a copy of this one, but I finally got around to reading it. I loved the setting and Erica’s introspection.

Here’s the blurb …

Erica Marsden’s son, an artist, has been imprisoned for a monstrous act of revenge. Trapped in her grief, Erica retreats from Sydney to a sleepy hamlet on the south coast, near where Daniel is serving his sentence.

There, in a rundown shack by the ocean, she obsesses over building a labyrinth. To create it—to navigate the path through her quandary—Erica will need the help of strangers. And that will require her to trust, and to reckon with her past.

The Labyrinth is a story of guilt and denial, of the fraught relationship between parents and children. It is also an examination of how art can be ruthlessly destructive, and restorative. Mesmerising yet disquieting, it shows Amanda Lohrey to be at the peak of her powers

This novel has a great sense of place. Erica’s story and her son’s are revealed slowly. In her shack by the sea (near to her son’s prison), Erica is trying to find a way to live and keep going despite the terrible thing her son did.

There is a great review at the Guardian

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Filed under 4, Fiction, Recommended

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