The Burning Chambers (The Joubert Family Chronicles)

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As the vicious Wars of Religion rage in 16th century France, a young Catholic girl falls in forbidden love with a Protestant boy. He is mistaken, for in Toulouse, the fires of religious conflict are blazing out of control, with neighbour turning on neighbour, and where old friendships are destined to turn into fatal enmities. This is billed as the first of a series of novels, chronicling the ongoing feud between two families over the generations, from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

And at that moment, I suddenly had an image of a girl standing in a graveyard, in Franschhoek, in 1862, having carried the story of her family and their flight from persecution and their journey all over the world. These descriptions wonderfully render each of the major set pieces, from the fortified city of Carcassonne to the lush green forests surrounding the mountain town of Puivert. This is a hard balance to strike in any work of historical fiction, but when done right, it is a wonder to behold. With a moving prose, the story engages three historical places of Carcassonne, Toulouse, and Puivert, bringing the richness of those places: their history and secrets of those who know those places well.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. We go back to the past to try and find what happened, because everything that's gone before influences what's happening now.

And so, having read most of her back catalogue, including the brilliant Labyrinth trilogy and The Taxidermist’s Daughter as well as two of her short story collections – The Winter Ghosts and The Mistletoe Bride – I was thrilled to find out that in amongst all the game-changing work Kate does for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, that she had penned a new novel – The Burning Chambers.I absolutely cannot recommend this intriguing, riveting read more if you love an epic, historical novel.