The Winter Ghosts is another very short book.
From Publishers Weekly
In Mosse's wisp of a new novel (after Sepulchre), Freddie Watson is a stilted young man who has not gotten over older brother George's disappearance on the Western Front during WWI. It is now 10 years since the Armistice, and Freddie, after a stay in a mental institution, has come to the French Pyrenees to find peace. While motoring through a snowstorm, he crashes his car and ends up in the small village of Nulle, where he meets a beautiful young woman named Fabrissa. In the course of an evening, Fabrissa tells Freddie a story of persecution, resistance, and death, hinting at a long-buried secret. By the next morning, she is gone, leaving Freddie alone to unlock a ghostly mystery hidden for 600 years. This is a staunchly old-fashioned story, taking fully 100 pages to get moving, and by the time things pick up, the gist of the narrative will be obvious to anyone who has ever sat through a Twilight Zone episode. Freddie's obtuseness does little to help along a gruel-thin story. (Feb.)
Not particularly impressed with this one, but it was very short. The premise didn't work well for me, and Freddie, the protagonist, was almost as nebulous as Fabrissa. I've read several novels in the last year or so that dealt with the history of the Cathars, which is an interesting and sad subject of religious persecution, but other than the historical info, found little to keep my interest.
Fiction. Historical/Supernatural. 2009. 260 pages.
Oh, I must know what other books you've read about the Cathars. The history was totally new to me and really the reason I ended up enjoying the book. Freddie was not a great character.
ReplyDeleteA Murderous Procession by Arianna Franklin and Immortal by Traci Slatton both had the Cathars mentioned. Liked the first, didn't like the second. I think there was another one that mentioned the Cathars, but I can't remember what it was.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jenclair! I avoid mysteries, so the one you liked is probably not up my alley. I've got the other one and have been putting it off. I've heard it's not so hot. Fortunately, it was a contest win, so if it doesn't work I can pass it on without guilt.
ReplyDelete