Saturday Snippet: La Bastille

 

 

Il était une fois ...

 

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*image not mine

Saturday Snippet: Nantes

:( 

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*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Virgins

Hello everyone!

Yes, I'm on a sort of Outlander binge, and not just with the television show.

I've been re-reading the books (although in random order since I went with The Fiery Cross, then doubled back to Outlander, and now I'm chewing through Dragonfly in Amber while contemplating starting Voyager instead) and of course the series includes the massive chonks as well as the shorter novellas, and Lord John Grey stories.

I'm telling you, people: you have not lived until you've witnessed the chaos that is Grey's life on a daily basis. I HIGHLY recommend that series.

I still have to review them all on here, and I swear I will!

Meanwhile, I sat down to a prequel yesterday.

I'd known that Diana Gabaldon had written a sort of story-before-the-story covering Jamie's time in France, or part of it at least, and I'd been dying to read it for a while now but never got the chance.

Of course we're in quarantine now, so what else is there to do but catch up?

And you're definitely catching up with Virgins.

Sepulchre (Booktober)

"For in truth, this story begins not with the absence of bones in a Parisian graveyard, but with the deck of cards: the Vernier Tarot."

 

If you're looking for something appropriately spooky and thrilling to make your way towards Halloween, I strongly suggest Sepulchre, by Kate Mosse. The second in her Languedoc trilogy, you don't necessarily need to read the first book to understand it, but it does bring the magic of Occitan France, tarot cards, intrigue, some ancient spells, and a centuries-old vendetta. 

It's been a while since I've read it myself, but I remember well enough how high into the air I jumped when the tomb itself (sepulchre, natch) started doing things it wasn't supposed to.

The best part, however, is that it FEELS real!

1891. Seventeen-year-old Léonie Vernier and her brother abandon Paris for the sanctuary of their aunt's isolated country house near Carcassone, the Domaine de la Cade. But Léonie stumbles across a ruined sepulchre - and a timeless mystery whose traces are written in blood.

2007. Meredith Martin arrives at the Domaine de la Cade to research a biography. But Meredith is also seeking the key to her own complex legacy and becomes immersed in the story of tragic love, a missing girl, a unique deck of tarot cards and the strange events of one cataclysmic night a century ago ...

(from book jacket)

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*image not mine

Pride and Prejudice (Booktober)

Tempting Autumn (Booktober)

Harry Potter (Booktober)

The Hobbit (Booktober)