The passionate story of star-crossed lovers Heloise and Abelard is well known, but Jones (The Jewel of the Medina; Four Sisters, All Queens) makes the classic tragic tale all too human in her new novel, which deftly explores the complexity of love between two brilliant and strong-willed people caught up in the pursuit of fame and independence as well as passion. Readers will recognize the familiar conflicts between what constitutes love and sacrifice for a man and what it means to a woman, and they will be struck anew by the dichotomy of mutual passion that both draws men and women together and tears them apart. All the while, in the background courtiers, scholars, canons, and bishops jockey for power, prestige, and a place in history, ready to destroy anyone who gets in their way.

Verdict A colorful, compelling tale that will appeal to any reader, though one wishes the unique character of the brilliant Heloise had been more fleshed out before the introduction of the spellbinding Abelard.

via Fiction from Cameron, Fournier, Jones, Littlefield, Twelve Hawks, & Zeltserman | Xpress Reviews.