As always a book is better than the movie. Sample the atmosphere and evocative nature of the region. Read Brown's Book. Read Mosse's two follow ups to Labyrinth. Come to the conclusion Post a Comment. Labyrinth, by Kate Mosse, is a book I haven't read, but I thought I'd give the Channel 4 TV miniseries version of the book a go, not least because Carcassonne, where the story is set, is very high on my list of places to visit.
Another factor was that, though I don't know her, I've heard Kate Mosse speak, and she does come over very well. Rightly or wrongly, this made me think I might like her best-selling story. There are, in fact, two stories, set years apart, but connected by one woman.
She is Alice Tanner, a teacher who goes to France after breaking up with a boyfriend, in order to claim an inheritance under a will. En route, she volunteers to help a friend on an archaeological dig near a mysterious cave. There she has a strange experience, almost like a hallucination, which seems to connect her with a woman from the area's bloody history. That woman is Alais, played by Jessica Brown Findlay, who is embroiled in a power struggle linked to the Crusades.
Her husband is having an affair with her venomous half-sister, but Alais' task, she learns from her father, is to find the Holy Grail.
Now, I must admit that this development was a bit of a turn-off, as Holy Grail quest stories are not my favourite form of fiction. On the other hand, I'm fascinated by mazes and labyrinths, and also by mysterious wills..
