BABYLONNE

A sharp-tongued protagonist enlivens a medieval tapestry stuffed with mysterious antecedents, religious persecution and gory violence, in this irresistible follow-up to Jinks’s beloved quartet about Pagan Kidrouk. Babylonne, the daughter he never knew, has every reason to believe the heretical teaching that this world is Hell, after her childhood as an abused bastard among strict Cathars and having witnessed the vicious reprisals of crusading Catholics. Fleeing marriage to a senile suitor, she reluctantly accepts protection from her despised father’s protégé, a Catholic priest. Before his gentle wisdom can completely soften her prickly shell, she is swept back into the horrors of religious war, forced to choose between everything she believes and the one thing she most wants. Resourceful and cynical, with a carefully hidden streak of romantic idealism, Babylonne is an engaging heroine, and the grave Father Isidore makes the perfect foil. Twelfth-century Languedoc—sordid, squalid and bawdily beautiful—glows with its own earthy vitality. While Babylonne’s story stands well on its own, make sure that interested readers can find the previous titles while hoping for as many sequels. (Historical fiction. 12 & up)