NEW FICTION

Citadel by Kate Mosse is published in hardback by Orion, priced £20 (ebook £10.99).

CITADEL is the final book in Kate Mosse’s Languedoc Trilogy – following the best-selling Labyrinth and Sepulchre.

Set during the Second World War between 1942 and 1944, it is the story of Sandrine Vidal, who is drawn into the world of the resistance in Carcassonne. Her network, codenamed “Citadel”, consists of ordinary French women, like her sister Marianne and best friend Lucie. Fighting alongside them are the men who love them.

They battle the enemy who are not only the Germans, but the collaborationist French Militia and the mysterious Leo Authie, a member of the Deuxieme Bureau.

Running parallel to their story is the tale of Arinius, a young monk and his wife Lupa, who live in the Carsac Plains in Gaul, AD 342 to 344. Arinius is the guardian of a secret Codex, a powerful and magical religious text. In the 1940s, the guardian of this Codex is Audric Baillard, a man who is being hunted, but by who? The two worlds collide in a dramatic battle.

This book is a wonderful, epic tale of passion, loyalty, courage and betrayal that grips the reader from the first sentence to the very last.

8/10

Astray by Emma Donoghue is published in hardback by Picador, priced £14.99 (ebook £8.40).

THE latest work from the Booker-nominated author is not a novel, but a collection of short stories spanning from 1639 to 1967. Each story is based on real-life accounts from old newspapers and diary entries.

The first story, about a woman forced into prostitution, is set in Victorian London and based on letters written by Charles Dickens. Other stories are set in America and Ontario, Canada. The hardships suffered by women play at the centre of the stories. Astray is ambitious, but the stories portray only two-dimensional sketches of the characters and history.

It does, however, make for an interesting read.

6/10

The Kennedy Conspiracy by Michael White is published in paperback by Arrow, priced £6.99 (ebook £4.74).

MICHAEL White’s latest novel centres around the assassination of John F Kennedy in Dallas in 1963. Far from being yet another theory-ridden plot, the story takes on a new twist to the tale. British journalist Mark Bretton lives in New York and leads an average life. When he is sent to write a piece on Professor Abigail Marchant who is researching reincarnation, he is initially sceptical. After undergoing one of Marchant’s experiments everything he believes is about to change and lead him into a deadly world of corruption.

Flicking between the past and present this book will take you on a breathtaking journey of suspense and intrigue.

9/10