The Burning Times

In 14th-century Carcassonne, the Inquisitors of the Catholic Church hunt down the young, beautiful Abbess Marie-Francoise. Following an apparent miracle performed in the Palace of the Popes at Avignon, she is regarded by some as a saint but by others as a dangerous heretic. The church is determined to burn her as a warning to others that any unorthodox behaviour will not be tolerated. When a mysterious illness befalls the experienced interrogator, a young monk, Brother Michel, is forced to hear her confession, the revelations of which shake his religious beliefs. Even more shocking are the truths he learns about himself and his adopted father, the Grand Inquisitor. Set against a background of Languedoc still reeling from the persecution of Albigensians and Cathars, this novel records a violent period of medieval history in which the Catholic church maintained power and wealth by instilling fear of the unknown in its members. The Race, a loose alliance of witches, templars and Jews, all gifted with the Sight, the Touch or the power to dream others' experiences, battle against the prejudice and persecution which ultimately lead to their horrific deaths at the stake. The supernatural is a dominant force in this novel, as Sybille, the inheritor of her mother and grandmother's Sight and Touch, is initiated into the rights of the Goddess before assuming the role of Abbess as a cover for her proscribed activities. Far more horrific is the depiction of the real world: the plague, leprosy and witchburnings are recorded in sometimes stomach-churning detail which bring home to the reader the harshness of the medieval world. Told both through Sybille's own words and Michel's reflections on his growing desire for her, this is an engrossing and thought-provoking novel. (Kirkus UK)