I was also fascinated to find out more about a dark and complex period of French history – and the history of Huguenot refugees in Europe – that, previously, I knew very little about.ĭespite the wealth of historical research and knowledge that has clearly gone into the novel however, Mosse never overburdens her story with detail. Mosse’s reputation for creating immersive and evocative historical settings appears to be well founded – the setting and period really leapt off the page as I read, the streets of sixteenth-century Paris and Amsterdam coming alive around me as I read. As mentioned above, I read The City of Tears before picking up The Burning Chambers and didn’t feel lost at all, and the story – although featuring returning characters and themes from The Burning Chambers – is set a decade after the events of its predecessor and, as such, felt relatively self-contained. It can, however, easily be read as a standalone. Having read The City of Tears, I shall definitely be rectifying that, however – and have already picked up and started the first book in this series, The Burning Chambers, to fill in the start of Minou Joubert’s story.īecause yes, The City of Tears is the second part of a planned sequence of novels set against the backdrop of 300 years of history that spans from sixteenth-century France to nineteenth-century Southern Africa. I enjoyed both immensely but just never got around to her longer novels – probably because a) there were three of them and b) none of them could be called short!

Surprisingly however, I’ve only previously read Mosse’s shorter fiction: namely her short story collection, The Mistletoe Bride and her standalone novel, The Taxidermist’s Daughter. Mosse is, after all, arguably best-known for her sprawling and immersive ‘Languedoc’ trilogy, comprising of Labyrinth, Sepulchre, and Citadel. Given my love for historical fiction, you’d think I’d have read everything Kate Mosse has ever written.

So too is their oldest enemy, Vidal, still in pursuit of a relic that will change the course of history.īut within days of the marriage, thousands will lie dead in the streets and Minou’s beloved family will be scattered to the four winds. The tagline is ‘Courage will be their greatest weapon’.Īugust 1572: Minou Joubert and her family are in Paris for a Royal Wedding, an alliance between the Catholic Crown and the Huguenot King of Navarre intended to bring peace to France after a decade of religious wars.

Image Description: The cover of City of Tears is orange with a map of a medieval city as the the backdrop and a crown in the foreground centre.

Kate mosse sepulchre review