Who else is jumping with excitement at the prospect of reading the next book by Kate Mosse? The City of Tears is the sequel to The Burning Chambers (2018) and hits the shelves 14 January 2021 (https://www.katemosse.co.uk/).

The City of Tears is set in 1572 at the height of the Wars of Religion between the ruling Catholics and the minority Hugenots. It features Catherine de Medici (see my Chenonceau blogpost) and the Feast Day of St Bartholomew’s, so is certainly won’t be lacking in historical drama!

Kate Mosse is one of my favourite authors and very hard to beat if you’re into French history and eloquent storytelling. I was hooked as soon as I read Labyrinth (2015), set in 1209 in the medieval fortress town of Carcassonne in southern France, at the time of the religious persecution and massacres of the Cathars. Labyrinth is a gripping dual-time tale of a mysterious book and the young woman who must keep its secrets safe.

I enjoyed the book so much that Carcassonne went to the top of my travel bucket-list. Here are a few photos, which only hint at the splendour of the place.

We were there just before Christmas, which is wonderful time to travel in France if you don’t mind a spot of cold weather, far fewer tourists and divine Christmas markets. By one of those incredible pieces of luck that befall travellers with flexible plans, we arrived in Arles during their Christmas Festival, on the very night the old town square was transformed into a stunning piece of acrobatic-operatic-visual artistry. Even if you don’t make the Christmas extravaganza, Arles is well worth a visit for its Roman amphitheatre and theatre (still in use) and its Vincent van Gogh links, amongst many other attractions.

The surrounding area of Provence remains firmly on my post-vaccine bucket-list, as we didn’t have time for Camargue Nature Park Nature Park (flamingos and wild horses) and Avignon.