2. PLOT
When Dr Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons at an archeological site in
southern France, she unearths a link with a horrific and brutal past. But
it’s not just the sight of the shattered bones that makes her uneasy;
there’s an overwhelming sense of evil in the tomb that Alice finds hard to
shake off, even in the bright French sunshine. Puzzled by the words
carved inside the chamber, Alice has an uneasy feeling that she has
disturbed something which was meant to remain hidden…
Eight hundred years ago, on the night before a brutal civil war ripped apart
Languedoc, three books were entrusted to Alais, a young herbalist and
healer. Although she cannot understand the symbols and diagrams the
books contain, Alais knows her destiny lies in protecting their secret at all
costs. Skilfully blending the lives of two women divided by centuries but
united by a common destiny, “Labyrinth” is a powerful story steeped in the
atmosphere and history of southern France.
3. Characters.
v Jehan Congost: He is a weak and v Guy D’evereux: He is a cruel,
ineffectual man. He is attached to the unscrupulous man, obsessed with
household of Raymond – Roger discovering the secret of the Grail. Guy
Trencavel, Viscount of Carcassonne. He is will do anything to get what he wants.
employed to write out documents, His pursuit of the parchments is the
letters and messages for illiterate – reason why he joins innocent III’s
customers. Crusade against the Cathars.
v Esclaramonde De Servian: He is a Cathar v Guilhem Du Mas: He is brave,
believer, from the small town of Servian, flamboyant, skilled with both lance and
he is also a member of a small secret sword, his reputation on the Jousting
society, ‘The Noublesso de los Seres’, field is second to none. He is also quick
dedicated to protecting their Egypcian tempered, arrogant and untired on the
parchments which contain the secret of battlefield. He is married to Alaïs.
the true Grail. Esclaramonde is known for
v Will: He is very attractive to women and
her skill as a healer and for her
knowledge of herbs. falls in and out of love easily. He is also
charming, a passionate friend and
brave.
4. v Harif the teacher: He is a teacher. He has v Marie – Cecile De Lloradora: She is
knowledge of the spoken language and beautiful, elegant, highly intelligent and
scripts of the ancient languages of the Middle influential. A highly successful
East and North Africa. He is, perhaps, from businesswoman in antiques, Marie took
the Holy Land. over as head of the L’Oradore family
empire in 2000 on the death of her
v Jeanne Giraud: For several years she helped beloved grandfather.
smuggle refugees – gypsies, Jews, other
resistants – over the Pyrenees to the relative v Sajh´e De Servian: He is a clever, self –
safety of northern Spain. In 1944 her husband possessed boy. He has lived with his
was caught, interrogated, torturated and grandmother since the death of his
executed. parents and has an understanding of the
Cathar faith and knowledge of predicting
v Orianne Congost – Pelletier: She is clever, the future, magic and the Jewish Kabala.
devious, ambitious and eager for power. She
is unscrupulous and extremely charming. She
hates her sister Alaïs.
5. v Raymond – Roger Trencavel: He is Viscount of v Alice Tarner: She is a strong, brave
Carcassonne inherited from his father at the and fiercely independent woman.
age of only nine years old. He is brave and Her parents died in a car accident in
independent, a man of integrity,popular with 1994 Throughout her childhood,
his vassal lords and subjects. He is known to be Alice suffered from dreams and
tolerant of all religions and cultures. He lives in nightmares. At the beginning of
the Château Comtal in the fortified hill town of labyrinth, She has just broken up
Carcassonne. with her long – term boyfriend and
so has accepted an invitation from
v
Alaïs Du Mass (Pelletier): She is the second and old university friend to work as
daugther of Bertrand and Margarite Pelletier. a volunteer at an archeological dig
She was born in 1193 in Carcassonne, She was a in The Sabarthes Mountains,
frail child. From childhood Alaïs has had Southwest France.
frequent headaches and visions.
v
Audric Baillard: He is a specialist on Ancient
Egypt also, Baillard reads hieroglyphs and other
antique forms of witing.
6. ●
Simeon the Bookmaker: He is a master
Paul Authié: He was born in
bookmaker who has lived in Chartres Mountauban in 1965 is an
since 1188, having left Jerusalen as the unscrupulous, ruthless lawyer who,
armies of Saladin approached. He is bankrolled by his estranged wife’s
nearly 60 years old a very old man indeed money. He has built a fromidable
by medieval standards and waiting only reputation in Carcassonne as an anti
for a chance to fulfil his vows to protect – immigration pro – church
the labyrinth parchments with his life. advocate. And he is known to be a
member of the Front National. He
has contacts within the police force.
He is a devout Catholic, making
substantial donations to The Society
of Jesus: The Jesuits.
7. v Bertrand Pelletier: At the
beginning of Labyrinth in
1209, Beltrand Pelletier is a
relatively old man by
medieval standars. He has
been Intendant – steward –
of the Trencavel household
since 1191. He lives with his
two dougthers in the
Chateau Comtal in
Carcassonne. As a younger
man he travelled to the
Holy Land, arriving in
Jerusalen in 1184. There he
was recruited by an ancient
Arab teache: Harif.
8.
9. PERSONAL OPINION.
It is a lovely, intelligent novel of discovery and loss, generous in its historical scope and
intimate in its tender details.
What really marks Labyrinth out is the fact that all the main roles – goodies as well as baddies
historical and contemporary – go to women. The job of heroine is split between the 13th –
century Alaïs, the daughter of one of the leading men in Carcassonne, and Alice, a
contemporary British woman who has managed to investigate her way on to a local
archaeological dig as a way of spinning out a lack lustre summer.
I have experienced in some deja – vu, so I understand the feelings of Alice. I have felt, like
Alice, an affinity, with a place, a sense of things that have happened. I enjoyed it much.
I absolutely couldn’t put the book down at all. Every spare second I had I couldn’t wait to
read the next few pages to see what was going to happen next.
I recommend this book.
10. PERSONAL OPINION.
It is a lovely, intelligent novel of discovery and loss, generous in its historical scope and
intimate in its tender details.
What really marks Labyrinth out is the fact that all the main roles – goodies as well as baddies
historical and contemporary – go to women. The job of heroine is split between the 13th –
century Alaïs, the daughter of one of the leading men in Carcassonne, and Alice, a
contemporary British woman who has managed to investigate her way on to a local
archaeological dig as a way of spinning out a lack lustre summer.
I have experienced in some deja – vu, so I understand the feelings of Alice. I have felt, like
Alice, an affinity, with a place, a sense of things that have happened. I enjoyed it much.
I absolutely couldn’t put the book down at all. Every spare second I had I couldn’t wait to
read the next few pages to see what was going to happen next.
I recommend this book.
