Labyrinth

July 2005. In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth. Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.

Kate Mosse is the cofounder and honorary director of the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction. A fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, she was named European Woman of Achievement for her contribution to the arts in 2000. She presented BBC 4's flagship Readers and Writers Roadshow and is a guest presenter on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Review.