Southern France, 1209. The reader is invited into a world where Catholics, Believers and Jews live in an uneasy symbiosis. The Believers live secretly amongst those of the ‘true faith’ for the most part, their heresy undeclared. Elinor has a Catholic mother and a heretic father, but this is a misty and only half-understood irrelevance for her. Until, that is, the papal legate is murdered and the Count of Toulouse is blamed.

The smouldering differences break forth between the two strains of Christianity, and the Pope declares a crusade to eliminate the heretics. The Jews of course, are also a target, since their very continued existence is an affront to the Roman Catholic Church. Elinor’s father understands how serious the situation is likely to become, and knows that the Pope will easily raise an army by offering land and loot in the wealthy south as a reward to his northern army. He arranges a marriage for Elinor to a known Catholic in the hope of protecting her.

 Unaware of his reasons, Elinor sees only that her proposed husband is an old man. In the throes of first love, for a Troubadour and heretic by the name of Bertran, she flees the castle in the guise of a travelling minstrel and joins a troop dressed as a boy. Elinor (now Esteve) is hoping to find Bertran but inadvertently her travels lead her out of danger, though not out of hardship. We are told of the battles of the crusade against the Cathars from the point of view of Bertran who fights on the losing side. Through his eyes we see the fall of city after city, culminating in the defeat of Carcassone.

The destruction of the Cathars is a complex historical and political web of intrigue and shame. Hoffman relates the tale with a wealth of historical detail and frequently shifting points of view. She successfully navigates the worst horrors by relating many of the atrocities at second hand, though the fate of Elinor’s own brother and father come close to the bone. This book would be most suited to mature teenagers who are accomplished readers and have a keen interest in history. The book has clearly been meticulously researched; both the fall of the Cathars and the tradition of the troubadours are faithfully detailed here.

2009-07-11