Citadel

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I don’t feel particularly enlightened about that time period or place during the Second World War—I enjoyed the story and characters, yes, but Mosse leaves most of the context up to the reader’s devices. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Observer Kate Mosse OBE, her reputation as a champion of popular fiction cemented. The combination of harrowing wartime setting and the supernatural romance of the Codex can sometimes feel jarring – tales of Nazi brutality do not usually need mystic additions to make them convincing – and at 919 pages, Citadel is very long, but the story progresses rapidly and for the many fans of Mosse's Languedoc novels, it will be a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Citadel is a deeply satisfying literary adventure, brimming with all the romance, treachery and cliffhangers you would expect from the genre.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.The ending was of course tragic but given that I could not empathize with the characters I found that I did not care one way or the other. Mosse brings to life the women and men who refused to stand still when France fell to the Nazis, and she does this in the context of a coming-of-age story, as readers watch Sandrine fall in love and transform from a somewhat sheltered girl into a take-charge woman. It is also steeped in a passion for the region, its history and legends, and that magical shadow world where the two meet.

I am a fan of historical fiction, and the story line of the female resistance fighters in France was intriguing.The police were to protect, although many of them were involved with the Nazi's, who to trust was a significant problem. Yet again loved her description of the country and the book intensified my desire to visit that region of France. Like their ancestors who fought to protect their land from Northern invaders seven hundred years before, these women — codenamed Citadel — fight to liberate their home from the Germans. He had no particular destination in mind, only that he had to find somewhere distinctive and sheltered, somewhere where the pattern of the ridges and crests might retain their shape for centuries to come… Forests might be cut down or burn or drowned when a river bursts its banks.

Set during the Second World, the storyline follows a group of women Resistance fighters who are trying to help people escape the Nazis in France. Like a few others, he disagrees and has accepted the task of taking the Codex to another land and hiding it safely away for a better time. Like their ancestors who fought to protect their land from Northern invaders seven hundred years before, these women—code-named Citadel—fight to liberate their home from the Germans. They came across as being one dimensional, probably because the author focused on their collective responsibility towards the resistance. From the internationally bestselling author of Labyrinth and Sepulchre comes a thrilling novel, set in the South of France during World War II, that interweaves history and legend, love and conflict, passion and adventure, bringing to life brave women of the French Resistance and a secret they must protect from the Nazis.Mosse’s descriptions of the town emphasize its age and its beauty and make it come to life in readers’ minds. The Ahnenerbe are also pursuing this codex, apparently with Authié's assistance, though to their cost they fail to realise that his motivation for securing it is quite different to theirs. Set during World War II in the far south of France, CITADEL is a powerful, action-packed mystery that reveals the secrets of the resistance under Nazi occupation. Sandrine certainly grows and changes as she matures from an unsure, impulsive girl into a clever and courageous woman. Days before the Languedoc was freed by its own people, as the Nazis were fleeing, 19 prisoners were killed, two women are to this day still unidentified.

The day to day struggles of ordinary people during the Occupation, the blossoming romances, the fear, the hardships and sometimes the joys are all captured beautifully here. Kate Mosse is the multimillion selling author of four works of nonfiction, three plays, one volume of short stories and six novels, including the New York Times bestselling Labyrinth and Sepulchre.When a bomb goes off at a crowded, peaceful demonstration, Raoul realises he has been set up by Authié to look like the perpetrator.