The Fire and the Light: A Novel of the Cathars

"I loved this book! Mr. Craney has woven a wonderful story around the little known facts and the many myths that surround St. Esclarmonde de Foix and the Cathars at Montsegur. Get thee to a bookseller!" -- REV. MOTHER ANASTASIA, ABBESS OF THE ORDER OF ST. ESCLARMONDE "This book is clearly well-researched, but more importantly for a novel, it tells a thoroughly engrossing story." -- ANN K. D. MYERS, THE HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY "A marvel of a tale, tied quite firmly into what facts there are, and woven deftly into a tapestry touching those facts and connecting them into a tale at once enjoyable and alarming." -- THOUGHTS AND PLACES REVIEWS "Tenets of the Cathar faith are explained and many of Esclarmonde's mystical experiences beautifully rendered." -- BOOKCROSSING Publisher's Note: The first edition hardback is out-of-print. The current print version is the 2nd edition paperback (2015). Readers are advised that this novel contains historically pertinent scenes of war violence and coarse language. Reading level is for adults 18 and over.An excerpt from Stories of Serendipity: Writing Historical Fiction Series with Glen Craney : ... Months later, I was climbing the heights of Montsegur in the Ariege region of France. That desolate mount and its haunting castle ruins looked strikingly similar to the landscape in my vision. This would prove to be only the first of many déjà vu experiences that I would have in Cathar country. I also learned that Montsegur was once part of the lands held by a woman named Esclarmonde de Foix, a countess and sister of the Count of Foix, one of the nobles who fought Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian Crusade. Esclarmonde became a revered leader of the Cathars, participated in public disputations against the Church legates, and grew so influential that she was publicly condemned in Rome as a heretic. And the name Esclarmonde means "Light of the World." At The Historical Novel Society website (historicalnovelsociety.org), readers can find the full interview with Stephanie Renee dos Santos, describing how Glen Craney came to write The Fire and the Light . Glen Craney holds graduate degrees from Indiana University School of Law and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He practiced trial law before joining the Washington, D.C. press corps to cover national politics and the Iran-contra trial for Congressional Quarterly magazine. The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences awarded him the Nicholl Fellowship prize for best About the Author new screenwriting, and he is a three-time finalist for Foreword Reviews Book-of-the-Year Award. His debut historical novel, The Fire and the Light, was honored as Best New Fiction by the National Indie Excellence Awards. His books have taken readers to Occitania during the Albigensian Crusade, to the Scotland of Robert Bruce, to Portugal during the Age of Discovery, to the trenches of France during World War I, and to the American Hoovervilles of the Great Depression.AMPAS Nicholl Fellow WinnerNautilus Silver Award WinnerIPPY Silver Award WinnerNIEA Award Winner for Best New FictionEric Hoffer Finalist/Honorable Mention Winner xa0Three-Time Foreword Magazine Book-of-the-Year FinalistDa Vinci Eye Award Finalist Read more