I am very pleased to welcome Susanne Dunlap today as she tours the internet with her new book, Voices in the Mist. I thank Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for sending me a copy at no charge for my honest review.
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Voices in the Mist
by Susanne Dunlap
Publication Date: September 21, 2021
Bellastoria Press
Series: The Orphans of Tolosa, Book 3
Genre: Historical Fiction
Marry a Catholic stranger, or flee the only world she’s ever known: Headstrong Bruna de Gansard must choose one or the other to protect her Cathar family from the inquisitors.
Toulouse, 1229. The inquisitors have arrived to rid the city of Cathar heretics once and for all, and are putting all unmarried girls over the age of 12 to the question. After an incident in the town calls unwanted attention to 14-year-old Bruna, a young Catholic stranger who is sympathetic to the heretics warns her family about the looming danger, and volunteers to marry their daughter to save her from being questioned.
But Bruna doesn’t want to be forced into marriage, so she chooses flight—which lands her unexpectedly in the midst of a Catholic pilgrimage to Compostela, thrusting her into a life of deceit.
When her beauty and her voice bring her to the attention of the powerful Baron de Belascon, who owes fealty to the king of France, Bruna earns the enmity of the baron’s bitter and imperious mother and finds herself caught between her allegiance to her own people and the dangerous secret of her origins—a secret that can be revealed at any time after the arrival of a French knight who recognizes her.
The Orphans of Tolosa Trilogy comes to a dramatic end in this gripping story of loyalty and betrayal, set amidst the violence and peril of the Albigensian Crusades.
Amazon / Bartlebys Books
About the Author
Susanne Dunlap is the author of nine works of historical fiction. A graduate of Smith College with a PhD in Music History from Yale University, Susanne grew up in Buffalo, New York and has lived in London, Brooklyn and Northampton, MA. She now lives in Northampton with her long-time partner, Charles, has two grown daughters, three granddaughters, a grandson, a stepson and a stepdaughter, five step-grandsons and one step-granddaughter—that’s a total of four children and eleven grandchildren!
In her spare time, she cycles in the beautiful Pioneer Valley.
For more information, please visit Susanne Dunlap’s website. You can follow author Susanne Dunlap on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram, Pinterest, and BookBub.
My Opinion:
Voices in the Mist takes place in one of my favored time periods for historical fiction. I have read a number of novels that tell the stories of the Cathars – the first one having ignited a curiosity about a peoples I had not learned about in my studies. This lead me to read more and more as I find their stories fascinating. When presented with a novel involving them I snap it up! This tale did not disappoint.
Bruna is a young converso, just on the cusp of womanhood who learns that the Inquisition is coming for all of her people – particularly the young women. To protect her a marriage is arranged but she does not want this so she runs and finds herself attached to of all things, a pilgrimage to Compostela. Here she needs to be careful for she cannot be who she really is but cannot help but be herself. All is going reasonably well until her group is joined by another and she catches the eye of an important man and someone else recognizes her.
I read this book as we were crossing the country from Montana to Vermont. It was a perfect book to read in the car; great characters, an involving plot and enough twists and turns to keep me entertained as the cornfields whipped by. I was so thrilled to have a good book for the time sped as the miles passed. It was a gift.
Rating:
5
Blog Tour Schedule:
Tuesday, September 21
Guest Post at Novels Alive
Wednesday, September 22
Review at Gwendalyn’s Books
Thursday, September 23
Review at Pursuing Stacie
Friday, September 24
Review at Novels Alive
Feature at Reading is My Remedy
Monday, September 27
Review at Passages to the Past
Tuesday, September 28
Feature at The Cozy Book Blog
Wednesday, September 29
Feature at The Caffeinated Bibliophile
Thursday, September 30
Review at Bookworlder
Friday, October 1
Review at Bonnie Reads and Writes
Saturday, October 2
Feature at I’m All About Books
Monday, October 4
Review at Books, Cooks, Looks YOU ARE HERE
Tuesday, October 5
Excerpt at Books and Benches
Wednesday, October 6
Feature at SplendeurCaisse
Thursday, October 7
Review at Chicks, Rogues, and Scandals
Friday, October 8
Feature at Jathan & Heather
Monday, October 11
Review at Up Past My Bedtime
Tuesday, October 12
Review at With A Book In Our Hands
Thursday, October 14
Review at Across the Sky in Stars
Friday, October 15
Feature at Coffee and Ink
The Giveaway
Enter to win a paperback set of The Orphans of Tolosa Trilogy! 3 sets are up for grabs!
The giveaway is open to the US only and ends on October 15th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
