The Fire and the Light: A Novel of the Cathars - Softcover

Craney, Glen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0996154108 ISBN 13: 9780996154109

Publisher: Brigid's Fire Press, 2015

Synopsis

In medieval France, heretics protect an ancient scroll that holds shattering revelations about the Roman Catholic Church. Swept up in the brutal Albigensian Crusade, a charismatic Occitan noblewoman who will become revered as the Cathar Joan of Arc defies a powerful pope and champions her persecuted faith in this historical epic of religious intrigue, crusader knights, troubadour valor, and star-crossed love.

• Foreword Book-of-the-Year Finalist/Honorable Mention Winner for Historical Fiction
• NIEA Award for Best New Fiction
  
• Nautilus Silver Award
• IPPY Silver Award
• Eric Hoffer Award Finalist/Honorable Mention
• Da Vinci Eye Award Finalist 

As the 13th century dawns, Latin Christendom is shaken by spiritual upheaval. In Rome, Pope Innocent III plots to crush a growing pacifist sect whose members believe the Vatican has corrupted Christ's teachings. In the Holy Land, warrior-monks make a disturbing discovery about Jesus of Nazareth. In southern France, roving troubadours sing of a mysterious Holy Grail that offers salvation through the intercession of a worthy lady.

And in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, a charismatic viscountess, Esclarmonde de Foix, is about to challenge the most powerful pontiff in history and hurl the Church into a crisis of divine authority.

Esclarmonde is a popular maiden in Occitania’s fabled Courts of Love, but her idyllic life is thrown into turmoil when she encounters a sect of hunted heretics called Cathars, the Good Men and Good Women. With war clouds gathering over the Languedoc, she must choose between her love for a mysterious Knight Templar and her calling to lead these persecuted descendants of the first Christians. In the tradition of Mary Magdalene, she ordains women as perfectas, teaches esoteric spiritual disciplines, and publicly debates the future leaders of the Inquisition on Christ's suppressed teachings. Desperate to suppress her popular preaching, Pope Innocent III condemns her ex cathedra and launches the only crusade ever declared against fellow Christians.

The outnumbered Occitan defenders of Esclarmonde's Cathar family and followers make their final stand atop Montsegur, a haunting mountain fortress where they protect a secret treasure suspected by some to be the Holy Grail. Their heroic resistance against the Dominican Inquisition and the French crusader army evokes the legendary defiance of the Jewish rebels against the Roman legions at Masada.

The Fire and the Light is a sweeping saga of crusading fanaticism, courtly romance, Vatican intrigue, and monastic conspiracy set during the infamous Albigensian Crusade.

Editorial Praise:

"I loved this book! Mr. Craney has woven a wonderful story around the little known facts and the many myths that surround St. Esclarmonde de Foix and the Cathars at Montsegur. Get thee to a bookseller!" — Rev. Mother Anastasia, Abbess of the Order of St. Esclarmonde

"This book is clearly well-researched, but more importantly for a novel, it tells a thoroughly engrossing story." — Ann K. D. Myers, The Historical Novel Society

“A marvel of a tale, tied quite firmly into what facts there are, and woven deftly into a tapestry touching those facts and connecting them into a tale at once enjoyable and alarming.” — ThoughtsandPlaces Reviews

"Tenets of the Cathar faith are explained and many of Esclarmonde’s mystical experiences beautifully rendered." — Bookcrossing

About this title

From the Author:

Publisher's Note: The first edition hardback is out-of-print. The current print version is the 2nd edition paperback (2015). Readers are advised that this novel contains historically pertinent scenes of war violence and coarse language. Reading level is for adults (18 and over).

An excerpt from Stories of Serendipity: Writing Historical Fiction Series with Glen Craney:
... Months later, I was climbing the heights of Montsegur in the Ariege region of France. That desolate mount and its haunting castle ruins looked strikingly similar to the landscape in my vision. This would prove to be only the first of many déjà vu experiences that I would have in Cathar country. I also learned that Montsegur was once part of the lands held by a woman named Esclarmonde de Foix, a countess and sister of the Count of Foix, one of the nobles who fought Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian Crusade. Esclarmonde became a revered leader of the Cathars, participated in public disputations against the Church legates, and grew so influential that she was publicly condemned in Rome as a heretic.

And the name Esclarmonde means "Light of the World."

At The Historical Novel Society website (historicalnovelsociety.org), readers can find the full interview with Stephanie Renee dos Santos, describing how Glen Craney came to write The Fire and the Light.

About the Author:

Glen Craney is a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, and lawyer. The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences honored him with the Nicholl Fellowship prize for best new screenwriting. He is also a two-time indieBRAG Medallion Honoree and has three times been named a Foreword Reviews Book-of-the-Year Award Finalist. His debut novel, The Fire and the Light, was recognized as Best New Fiction by the National Indie Excellence Awards and as an Honorable Mention winner for Foreword's BOTYA in historical fiction. His novels have taken readers to Occitania during the Albigensian Crusade, to the Scotland of Robert Bruce, to Portugal during the Age of Discovery, to the trenches of France during World War I, and to the American Hoovervilles of the Great Depression. He lives in southern California.

Nautilus Silver Award Winner
IPPY Silver Award Winner
NIEA Award Winner for Best New Fiction
Eric Hoffer Finalist/Honorable Mention Winner
Foreword Magazine BOYTA Finalist (three times) and Honorable Mention for Historical Fiction
Da Vinci Eye Award Finalist
BTS Magazine Readers Choice Honorable Mention Award

About this edition

• Publisher: Brigid's Fire Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0996154108
• ISBN 13: 9780996154109
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 504