The City of Tears (The Burning Chambers) by Kate Mosse

Synopsis
June 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: a royal wedding has been negotiated by Catherine de’ Medici and Jeanne d’Albret, an alliance between the Catholic Crown and Henri, the Huguenot king of Navarre. It is a marriage that could see France reunited at last.

Meanwhile in Puivert, an invitation has arrived for Minou Joubert and her family to attend this historic wedding in Paris in August. But what Minou does not know is that the Joubert family’s oldest enemy, Vidal, will also be there. Nor that, within days of the marriage, on the eve of the Feast Day of St Bartholomew, Minou’s family will be scattered to the four winds and one of her beloved children will have disappeared without trace . . .

Review
I have been so excited for the release of The City of Tears by Kate Mosse, the second instalment of The Burning Chambers. Due to be released last May, the book starts where The Burning Chambers finished, with Minou, Piet and their family preparing to leave Puivert for Paris and the wedding of the Catholic Marguerite de Valois, sister to the King and Protestant Henri of Navarre the first Bourbon King of France. This wedding was expected to ease the tensions between the Catholics and Protestants, and stop the wars of religion in France and unite the country. But danger lies in Paris for the Joubert family, their nemesis Vidal, Cardinal Valentin is also there in his role as Confessor to the Duke of Guise, looking for revenge. But it is durning the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre that tears the family apart with the loss of one of their children. Covering the years 1572-1594, this book follows Minou and Piet from Puivert to Paris and to Amsterdam, and their parts in the wars of religion taking over Europe.

What can I say about this book except wow, wow, wow!! Kate Mosse is such a brilliant writer, bringing history to life but without bogging the reader down, and making it such a joy to read about. The same goes for her characters, some you really take to your heart, like Minou and her extended family and others like Vidal who you hate. It was lovely to be back with Minou and Piet, their two young children, the young Jean-Jacques and the headstrong, and stubborn Marta. In this book we learn more about Piet’s background, his childhood in Amsterdam, the death of his mother and the identity of his father, all of which turns their lives around. It was also intersting to see Piet back in his native Amsterdam after the fallout in Paris, and back to being an integral part of the city being taken over by the Protestants. Through the eyes of these characters Kate Mosse highlights the tensions and historical events of this period.

The majority of this book does take place in the lead up to and aftermath of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, the Catholic revolt against the Protestants. Kate Mosse captures the atmosphere of this time, the excitement and festivities of the marriage, then the fear and violence of the massacre, and for Piet and Mino the heartache of loss. Interestingly in Amsterdam, there was little to no violence in the transition of power. These changes in the religious control led to mass immigration, which altered the population and dynamics of cities and countries in Europe and in many places also the rulers of those provences, due to a fear of persecution by those new to power; Heugenot’s flee France and it is the Catholic’s that flee Amsterdam. I do like the way that Kate Mosse uses Minou and Piet’s family to show that the two religions can live together, Minou’s aunt Salvadora Boussey is a practicing Catholic, and I’m sure many were tolerant. The historical research and mixture of fact an fiction really add to the ambience of the book, in character, place and time period, giving a feeling of reality to the whole book.

The City of Tears is an amazing sequel to The Burning Chambers, and the good news is there are apparently going to be two more books in this series. Kate Mosse is a skilful storyteller who seemlessly blends fact and fiction together, capturing the zeitgeist, making her books so compelling. As with the previous book there is a prologue set in South Africa 1862, a teaser for the books to come and the three hudred years yet to be written. If you haven’t read The Burning Chambers, then why not, these books really are historical fiction at it’s best. This is a stunning, sublime and sensational read.

Thanks to Kate Green at Pan Macmillian for my copy of this book in return for my honest review. If you missed my review on The Burning Chambers then you can read it here The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse.