Though the elements of fantasy and magic require a firm suspension of disbelief (there is a whiff of Tolkien about the alleged powers of the codex), what capture the reader most powerfully are the horrors of the Nazi threat and the sacrifices necessary to survive and resist, which make Citadel feel the most substantial and mature of the trilogy. The 1942 storyline at least presents its share of obstacles for its characters. Sandrine certainly grows and changes as she matures from an unsure, impulsive girl into a clever and courageous woman. Although I found the simplistic way in which Mosse presents their decisions somewhat irritating, I really enjoyed how various characters, like Luce, rationalized their collaboration. In this respect, Citadel allows the reader to sympathize with what the ordinary citizens of these villages and towns must have felt as the Nazi occupation deepened. It’s all well and good to say that one would stand and fight against such an invader in theory. When it’s actually happening, it is a different thing entirely, more pernicious and less overtly easy to throw off. The information published here results from more than ten years personal experience cruising the waterways from north to south and east to west. In Nazi occupied France the Citadel are a group of all-women freedom fighters - part of the Resistance, and determined to outwit both the Germans and the evil French collaborators. Led by 18 year old Sandrine Vidal, her sister and their friends, these woman show courage and daring, never knowing who is watching them or who will betray them to the authorities.

Sam is an ordinary teenager who has built her life through friendship and a special bond with her twin sister through entertainment and schoolwork. The novel revolves around an adopted twin whose sister has died for her real parents. Overall, I did get enjoyment out of the novel and the character development was done very well. I enjoyed reading about Carcassonne and greatly enjoyed the history involved in the creation of the novel. Arinius is a young monk, who is safe-guarding what he feels is "sacred words". I question, sacred words to whom? I found it odd and yet fascinating, Ariunius is a monk, and the word God and Christian is used in his story, but Sandrine is not a believer in God (this remark is made more than once). So I ask, why is there a book about "sacred words" and Christians, paired with and utilized by an unbelieving French resistance fighter?This is the first time I have written in a review on this blog reference to Scripture, but I do not apologize, it would be wrong of me as a reviewer to not state something in a book I see as incorrect, even if the book is fiction.

It is the second book in the series and involves Leonie Vernier and her brother Anatole. In 1891, they are invited by their widowed aunt to the beautiful town of Rennes-les-Bains in southwest France. Their aunt owns a mountain estate, Domain de la Cade which is famous in the region. Constantia Gifford stands alone and doesn’t believe in such superstitions. She is 17 and lives with her father, the taxidermist, in the remains of what was once Gifford’s world famous museum of taxidermy. And new heroes and heroines, Raoul, Sandrine, Lucie, Marianne, too many to name all related somehow to the story of the characters of the previous book like a cycle.Kate Mosse has been on the periphery of my literary radar for a while now. Hers were books that would show up on recommendation lists based on books I had like. They would appear at my friends’ houses, imposing yet reassuring with their bulk and sleek, simple cover art. I was vaguely aware that she wrote historical fiction, and that was it. Fabrissa is also mourning from the losses of World War 1. One night, Freddie and Fabrissa share their stories and this is when Freddie knows his role in the life of this remote town. As in the first two books, Mosse sets up two narrative threads progressing in parallel, though the difference here is that neither concerns the present day. Although the principal story follows Sandrine and her friends as they attempt to find the codex, while evading capture and throwing Authié and his collaborators off the scent, we also glimpse the far distant history of the region in the subplot of the codex's original journey into the mountains, in the hands of a young, fourth-century monk risking death to save the heretical text from the flames.

I loved how she wove recent history with the distant past in this story about the French resistance in the Languedoc. She tells a tale well, without flinching from the painful parts. Kate Mosse is an English author specialized in novels, short stories, non-fiction and broadcasting. She was born in 20 October 1961. She is well-known for writing Labyrinth which has been translated into more than thirty-seven languages. Set during the Second World, the storyline follows a group of women Resistance fighters who are trying to help people escape the Nazis in France. We meet Sandrine and her network known by the codename Citadel. Mosse is the queen of historical mystery. She understands more than most historical writers how to weave the past with the present. In fact, she's more than adept at writing two parallel tales with hundreds of years between the two. As the stories unfold, it becomes more evident how Mosse intends to connect the parallel tales. Source: Free advanced reader copy from William Morrow, and France Book Tours, in exchange for a review.

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Citadel is the final instalment in the Languedoc trilogy. I haven’t read Labyrinth and Sepulchre, and after struggling through Citadel I have no intention of doing so. Nazi-occupied France. Sandrine, a spirited and courageous nineteen-year-old, finds herself drawn into a Resistance group in Carcassonne - codenamed 'Citadel' - made up of ordinary women who are prepared to risk everything for what is right. And when she meets Raoul, they discover a shared passion for the cause, for their homeland, and for each other. I read the first two books of the trilogy and really wasn't sure where she'd go next. I only knew there would be a lot of Languedoc stuff in it. Really, I have no desire to see France, but I'd love to visit the Languedoc region!