The descriptions of life in medieval France seem well done, and minor characters come alive even with just brief descriptions. The author describes the inquisitors’ torture methods and the phenomenon of burning at the stake vividly though not gratuitously, and thankfully briefly. Parts of this book are difficult to read. The book goes back and forth in time, as she relates her past to the only agent she will consents to speak with, a Dominican scribe, and as we follow the scribe’s actions at the time of the interrogation. At the start of the book, she is in prison in Carcasonne, waiting to be interrogated by agents of the Inquisition, expecting to die at the stake. The supernatural underpins the entire novel, in which we follow the life of Sybille, later known as Mother Marie Françoise, who is gifted with the Vision and destined to play a critical role in the survival of good in the world.

However, it is not strictly historical fiction. Dillard.This novel takes place in southern France during the 1300s, a France beset by the Inquisition and visited by the plague. About the Author Jeanne Kalogridis is the author of The Diaries of the Family Dracul, a historical vampire trilogy, and wrote for the bestselling Star Trek series under the pseudonym J. The result is a page-turning novel about one of the most intriguing periods in history. Like a magician herself, Jeanne Kalogridis weaves a tale of star-crossed love, of faith and heresy, of mysticism and witchcraft, against a fascinating historical backdrop - the Black Death, the Hundred Years War, and the catastrophic defeat of France at the hands of the English. Michel, a pious and compassionate monk sent to hear her confession, finds himself drawn more intimately into Sybilles life and destiny than either of them could have imagined.

Before long, Sybilles unusual powers bring her under the scrutiny of the Inquisition. She flees her village and takes refuge in a Franciscan sisterhood. Mother Marie Franoise, born Sybille, is a midwife with a precocious gift for magic - a gift that makes her a prime target for persecution at the hands of the Church. In an epic tale of passion, mystery, and unspeakable danger, one woman faces the flames.and triumphs.

The Inquisition rages throughout medieval France, searching ruthlessly for heretics. The Burning Times sweeps readers into 14th-century France and into the life of Sybille, a young midwife well-schooled in the art of white magic. About the Book In the tradition of The Mists of Avalon and The Name of the Rose, an epic tale of romance, mystery, and danger set in the turbulent medieval period.

The burning times jeanne kalogridis