A perfectly combined story of love, deceit, survival and war that draws on real historical events that are authentic and rich in detail. I say perfect because I do love history and the level of detail was just right and described with historical accuracy. The author did an excellent job at capturing the turbulence, the sense of mistrust and need for survival during a period of political instability. The first book in a new series of novels by Kate Mosse, The Burning Chambers is sublime historical fiction. It is set in France, in the year 1562, when the Wars of Religion were beginning to take hold. These were a sequence of eight civil wars between Catholics and Huguenots and the loss and destruction was profound, with several million people dead or displaced over the 36 years these wars raged on for. Such a very long time; what madness.

La ciudad del fuego" es la primera entrega de una trilogía en la que Kate Mosse nos lleva de la mano a la truculenta Francia de 1562. Es la historia de un país y de una religión a través de unos personajes que, en su búsqueda de sus propios sueños y objetivos, no dudan en llegar todo lo lejos que puedan y que invita al lector a reflexionar sobre el derramamiento de sangre que se produce, en este caso, en nombre de la religión. Una novela que se adentra en temas como la familia, el amor, la religión, la venganza, la traición, el poder, el secretismo y el perdón.The Huguenots (Protestants) and the Catholics of 16th century France hate each other for various reasons, and those with no strong religious sensibilities want only to profit from war. Minou’s father has been keeping some dark family secret, Minou receives a vaguely threatening letter…and she is oblidged to leave her beloved Carcassonne for the “safety” of Toulouse, which turns out to not be safe at all. Also in Paris is their oldest enemy, Vidal, in pursuit of an ancient relic that will change the course of history. a b c d Dodd, Celia (7 June 2008). "Bestselling author, Kate Mosse, talks about her new book, Sepulchre, and her fascination with tarot cards". The Times . Retrieved 30 January 2017. (subscription required) The Burning Chambers is a chunk of a read, no bones about it. That said, it reads like a dream. It’s gripping, with great tension, and there’s mystery and adventure everywhere you look. The atmosphere is on point, and I was transported to France during this unique and tumultuous time period.

This book has so many layers and is so engrossing that I finished it in no time. It's great to have the mystery wrapped up in the story. It's a entertaining book start to finish. Twelve years later a young woman is reported to have a resemblance to Minuo and thought to be Marta. Minuo and Piet decide to return to France to search for their daughter, but danger is everywhere. Vidal with his collection of relics, many he knows to be fake, has ambitions to use them to gain power and position. Knowing Piet and Minuo have returned has added tension and jeopardy to everyone, and the suspense is very well delivered through many menacing twists where the hunted and hunter have many close encounters. In June 2023 Mosse was the invited guest on BBC Radio 4's long running radio series Desert Island Discs hosted by Lauren Laverne. Mosse heeft voor mij ook een minder gekend stukje geschiedenis aangesneden en het is altijd leuk iets bij te leren tijdens het lezen van een spannende roman. Wat er gebeurde in deze periode, in het gebied rond de Canarische eilanden is fascinerend. We kennen allemaal de slavenhandel tussen Afrika en Noord-Amerika, maar we zijn ons minder bewust van de eerdere slaven praktijken zoals deze van de 17de eeuw.El ritmo de la novela es bastante ágil, contada a través de un narrador omnisciente (con pocas páginas narradas en primera persona), con continuos acontecimientos que cambian el rumbo de la historia y que nos conduce a un final tenso y dramático, pero muy emocionante. Se convirtió en una lectura bastante adictiva. Impressively bold and ambitious, [ The Burning Chambers] features betrayals, broken friendship, family secrets, and the horrors of fanaticism. Fans will love it." - Daily Mail (UK) Emprendí con entusiasmo la lectura de esta nueva trilogía, después de haber leído, hace algún tiempo, El laberinto y Sepulcro de esta misma autora. Impressively bold and ambitious, it features betrayals, broken friendship, family secrets and the horrors of fanaticism. Fans will love it * Daily Mail * That being said, this was an enjoyable read. Minou was wonderful to read about. The conflicts she faced in the present to protect her husband and granddaughter, along with the trauma of her past made for a sympathetic character. Louise also has her strengths in her independence and strength to pursue what she wants with little care for how she will be perceived. Her past being slowly revealed through current events triggering suppressed memories is interesting and adds tension to the story. Gilles and Louise fight the perception that society has of them, both displaying fascinating journeys that seem to end with accepting each other and building a life together.

Sweeping from Paris and Chartres to the City of Tears itself – the great refugee city of Amsterdam – this is a story of one family’s fight to stay together and survive against the devastating tides of history . . . I didn't realize this was the third book in a series until after I'd bought it, but having read it that wasn't a problem. This book works perfectly well as a standalone. But the bravest among them are not who they seem. The stakes could not be higher. If arrested, they will be hanged for their crimes. Can they survive the journey and escape their fate? Mosse’s focus in her historical fiction has always been on the untold stories of women and Minou is an appealing heroine, tough and resourceful, holding her family together through unbearable losses and more than once saving her husband’s life through cunning or physical courage. The author’s great skill is to weave extensive research with the conventions of the adventure novel; her villains are enjoyably villainous, her heroines at once exceptional and vulnerably human. All my historical fiction is inspired by landscape and the relationship between history, storytelling and place. The Burning Chambers is, like my 2005 novel Labyrinth before it, a love letter to Carcassonne and Toulouse in the southwest of France. But the moment that brought the novel into life happened at the wonderful Franschhoek Book Festival in South Africa and learning that Franschhoek meant the ‘French Corner’. Then, noticing that all the domains and the restaurants had French names and, in the graveyard, on the tombstones behind the Dutch names were French, too. After four years of research – covering 300 years of history – I knew that Hugeunot refugees, fleeing persecution and displacement in France, had sailed from Amsterdam to the Cape of Good Hope… I also knew I had my story.In The Ghost Ship the publishers promise us ‘piracy, romance, revenge’ and the book certainly delivers on all three. The Ghost Ship is the third book in the series following the fortunes – and misfortunes – of various generations of the Joubert family. I’ve read both the previous books in the series – The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears – as well as plenty more of Kate Mosse’s other books so I know she is a consummate storyteller and once again she doesn’t disappoint. The story lines involving Minou and Piet are interspersed with extracts from the testimony of an unnamed woman who reveals herself as something of a Lady Macbeth character, prepared to stop at nothing to achieve her aims. Eventually, the various story lines and leading characters converge on the place that holds the key to one element of the mystery before building to a dramatic climax. However, ‘old crimes cast long shadows…’ so this is a feud that could continue down the generations. In October 2013, Mosse's collection of short stories, The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales, was published – a collection of ghost stories inspired by traditional folk tales and country legends from England and France, throughout Sussex, Brittany and the Languedoc. Mosse’s fans will relish this tale of secrets, love and treachery - The Times on The Burning Chambers Schip der Zielen is geschreven in de kenmerkende beeldende stijl van Kate Mosse. Uit haar vorig werk weten we dat ze een uitgebreide kennis heeft over Zuid-Frankrijk, Katharen en Hugenoten. Dit verhaal speelt zich echter af in een andere regio en dit merk je. Ik miste de passie van de auteur die in het vorige werk van Mosse van elke pagina spatte. De omschrijving van de omgeving en de geschiedenis is hier veel vlakker omschreven, niettegenstaande de uitgebreide research van de auteur.