I'm about to travel to the Ardeche, in Southern France. Not quite the Languedoc of this blockbuster, but if it fits into my baggage allowance, this whopper should make good holiday reading.

There are lots of Holy Grail type books out there right now, and this one's quite an intelligent take on the story. What makes it readable is good characterisation and a real feel for the fascinating history and landscape of South West France, and Carcassonne in particular.

Two narratives, one eight hundred years ago and one contemporary, are neatly blended and the result is a real page turner. A couple of things frustrated me, however. First, there are some huge and completely avoidable proof reading errors which make nonsense of the plot. And as for the plot itself, at certain key points I found it unconvincing, particularly the way that the writer falls back on the "something was driving her to do it, but she didn't know what", device. I felt that the book would have benefitted greatly from a final, thoughtful revision - it had a rushed feeling to it which may have something to do with Kate Mosse's numerous other commitments and her contacts within the literary world. I felt particularly strongly about this because, on her website Labyrinth she does very much set herself up as an expert writing tutor and novelist.

Sorry if this sounds carping, it's still an excellent story and a very gripping read. It just could have been that little bit better.

Going off to Lindy now on a trade.

Received from Ruth this morning: I can't wait to read it!

I can't believe I haven't journalled this yet: I read it several months ago, as soon as I received it from Ruthwater. And it is one of my favourite books of the year. A wonderful synthesis of medieval and modern. As the front cover says: Dan Brown eat your heart out.

PS I have bought another copy of this to send out into the world (it has gone to America) so am going to add this to my PC: hope this is OK Ruthwater; let me know if it isn't...