Citadel

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Fans of the previous two books will be pleased to find characters and themes recurring here, most notably the magus figure of Audric Baillard, the enigmatic scholar who has lived many centuries and seems to embody the resilience of the land and its people. The depth of Mosse's descriptions of the plight of the French during the German occupation evoked sympathy and a level of outrage. Good story, based more in the present than her previous books but still with links to the history of the Languedoc.

Interwoven with the fictionalized story of these courageous women, led by 18-year-old Sandrine Vidal, is the story of a 4th century monk seeking refuge in the town, carrying with him a Codex the Church wanted destroyed to stifle the power of its words.

Then when it is finally used, it saves a small number of villagers and has no real impact on the war itself.

This idea of a connection between the story of a secret Cathar treasure and the grail was given substance in the 20th century by the work of Otto Rahn, a German historian and SS officer who believed that the Cathars held the key to the grail mystery, and that the evidence was somewhere beneath the ruins of Montségur. So as 'Citadel' was billed as the third in the series, I thought that having just read a series of fairly weighty literary poetry collections, I would delve into the third Mosse offering. And I didn’t get much from the spiritual storyline that attempts to unite Arinius’ experience with that of Sandrine and her contemporaries. Although the principal story follows Sandrine and her friends as they attempt to find the codex, while evading capture and throwing Authié and his collaborators off the scent, we also glimpse the far distant history of the region in the subplot of the codex's original journey into the mountains, in the hands of a young, fourth-century monk risking death to save the heretical text from the flames. The Prologue describes ‘the woman known as Sophie’ and the reader is left to wonder, which of the women in the story is ‘Sophie’?

I was amazed by the writing, by the story and how Mosse manages to captivate the reader with her complex plots and engaging characters. What she suffered through and how she supported others was a tribute to the many women who led the pack to protect their families, friends, and even strangers in their towns during the Nazi invasion of France in the 1930s and 1940s. I’m optimistic that it might have a younger, more attractive sibling for me to meet a few months or years hence—perhaps over a good cup of tea somewhere. Well, I had read 'Labyrinth' which I really enjoyed and 'Sepulcher,' which was also relatively enjoyable as far as light holiday reads go. There is no sense of discrimination from an industry that is nowadays entirely driven by money rather than literary worth or producing novels that are worthy at least in terms of enjoyment.

As I say, I loved the second half of the book and couldn't put my Kindle down and was utterly heartbroken at the conclusion; tears of joy and sadness.

Towards the end of the book when it's building to a crescendo I found it odd that there was a change in the emotion of the plot. Sandrine certainly grows and changes as she matures from an unsure, impulsive girl into a clever and courageous woman.