The Burning Chambers (The Joubert Family Chronicles)

Product Information

A gorgeously written, utterly absorbing epic and, despite being set in the sixteenth century, has some very pertinent messages for our time about the evils of religious persecution and the transcendent power of love and family. In case it’s not clear enough yet, I absolutely LOVED it - Lucy Foley, bestselling author of The Hunting Party and The Paris Apartment, on The City of Tears Kate hosts the pre performance interview series at Chichester Festival Theatre in Sussex, chairs Platform Events for the National Theatre in London, as well as interviewing writers, directors, campaigners and actors at literary and theatre festivals in the UK and beyond. Kate was awarded a Fellowship at the Writer's House in Amsterdam in 2019. She is a visiting Professor of Creative Writing & Contemporary Fiction at the University of Chichester, a Patron of the Chichester Festival of Dance, Music and Speech and President of the Festival of Chichester. The Founder of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and recently launched Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, Mosse is an award-winning novelist, playwright, essayist and non-fiction writer. Her most recent feminist non-fiction book, Warrior Queens and Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World (Mantle, October 2022), is now the basis for a one-woman theatre show. A sweeping and epic love story, ranging from France in 1610 to Amsterdam and the Canary Islands in the 1620s, The Ghost Ship is a thrilling novel of adventure and buccaneering, love and revenge, stolen fortunes and hidden secrets on the High Seas. Most of all, it is a tale of defiant women in a man's world. Anthology of World War I Literature for Children (essay – edited by Michael Morpurgo, Jonathan Cape, 2014)

Wonderful, rip roaringly adventurous and full of indelible characters. Mosse is a conjurer - Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch First-rate cloak and dagger excitement – who knew the religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots in sixteenth-century France could be so riveting to modern audiences? Kate Mosse captures the details of life in the Languedoc region of France, famed for its beauty, but hiding many secrets, in this masterful novel - Margaret George, New York Times bestselling author of The Confessions of Young Nero She is particularly interested in those moments when societies and countries have stood at crossroads. “All of my books are set at a turning point in history,” she explains, on cusps at which “if things had gone the other way, the whole of what happened would have been different. So in City of Tears, obviously, it’s the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre. It looked like there would be peace. And because of that, there wasn’t, and it went on for another generation. In The Burning Chambers, the first one, it’s if the Duke of Guise had not opened fire on people praying in Vassy on the first of March 1562, the wars of religion would not have happened like that.” Rich with historical detail, as you’d expect from Mosse, but it’s Minou, the fiery heroine, who makes this a must-read - Good Housekeeping Book of the Month Mosse’s fans will relish this tale of secrets, love and treachery - The Times on The Burning Chambers

Kate Mosse's Languedoc trilogy books in order

Religious fanaticism, political intrigue and the heart-wrenching tale of a lost child add to a highly readable historical adventure, with women firmly centre stage - Mail on Sunday

Carcassonne, 1562: 19-year-old Minou Joubert receives an anonymous letter at her father’s bookshop. Sealed with a distinctive family crest, it contains just five words: "She Knows That You Live". But before Minou can decipher the mysterious message, a chance encounter with a young Huguenot convert, Piet Reydon, changes her destiny forever. For Piet has a dangerous mission of his own, and he will need Minou’s help if he is to get out of La Cité alive. Bringing 16th century Languedoc vividly to life, Kate Mosse's The Burning Chambers is a gripping story of love and betrayal, mysteries and secrets; of war and adventure, conspiracies and divided loyalties.... This powerful story of love, secrets and deceit is pacy, rich and stylish – and as compelling as they come. One to stay up late for - Isabel Ashdown, author of Lake Child Piracy. Romance. Revenge. Across the seas of the seventeenth century, two seafarers are forced to fight for their lives. The sequel to The City of Tears, The Ghost Ship is the third novel in the Joubert Family Chronicles from bestselling author Kate Mosse. That rare thing, a novel with vast scope and ambition, brilliantly achieved, but also deeply personal, finely detailed and nuanced. I was utterly immersed in this spell-binding story - Rosamund Lupton, author of Three Hours

The Joubert Family Chronicles in Order

Mosse’s narrative lyricism, beautifully drawn female characters and deft journey from the past to the present day are a cut above - Scotland on Sunday Transporting, intelligent, heartwarming and intriguing, this is historical fiction at its finest - Lucy Atkins, author of Magpie Lane

Another of Mosse’s immersive dramas, which takes you to the heart of the past - Grazia on The Burning Chambers Another meticulously researched and stunningly written novel by a much-loved and highly accomplished author. I adored it!' - Santa MontefioreI wasn’t sure I was going to do something like that,” she says of the book, “but I was asked to and then I realised that it was about the invisibility of carers, and therefore there was a sense of a responsibility. If you have any sort of platform and you are a carer you should be saying, I’m one too, because we are everywhere hidden in plain sight.” Another of Mosse’s immersive dramas, which takes you to the heart of the past - Grazia Book of the Week Gripping, thrilling, a spectacular work of scholarly reimagining, The Ghost Ship is a beautiful book about two women, about love, courage, suffering, and a world in which everything was on a knife edge. A stunning novel, a whole world recreated - Kate Williams, historian and author of Rival Queens Every inch a classic Mosse novel, The City of Tears is diligently researched, beautifully written and, crucially right now, both substantial and immersive – if you want to leave twenty-first-century pandemic Britain behind, this should be your preferred mode of transport - Radio Times

Mosse can tell a story . . . plunge relentlessly and breathlessly in alongside Louise and Gilles in their maritime adventure - The Times Mosse said: “I’m delighted that Mantle will be publishing my gender-swapping story of love and adventure at sea. The Ghost Ship has been a delight to work on from start to finish.”

Languedoc Trilogy in Order

But the bravest among them are not who they seem. The stakes could not be higher. If arrested, they will be hanged for their crimes. Can they survive the journey and escape their fate? May 1572: for ten violent years the Wars of Religion have raged across France. Neighbours have become enemies, countless lives have been lost, and the country has been torn apart over matters of religion, citizenship and sovereignty. But now a precarious peace is in the balance and a royal wedding has been negotiated. It is a marriage that could see France reunited at last.