cover image The Angel's Promise

The Angel's Promise

Violette Cabesos, Frederic Lenoir, , trans. from the French by Lauren Yoder. . Pegasus, $25.95 (495pp) ISBN 978-1-933648-06-4

Art history, architecture, ghosts, two romances separated by a thousand years, murder and more fill Lenoir and Cabesos's grab bag of a book, a bestseller in France and Spain. In the present, Johanna, an archeologist, is tormented by dreams of a headless monk associated with the abbey Mont-Saint-Michel. In 1022, Benedictine Brother Roman is undertaking the construction of an immense new church. After brigands beat Roman, the beautiful Moira, a Celtic healer, cares for him and the two fall in love. When Moira refuses to renounce her pagan religion, the church authorities torture her to death. In the meantime, Johanna slowly unravels the mystery of the headless monk while a killer picks off members of her archeological team. Despite some clunky romance fiction touches and tedious digressions, the novel has a certain grandiosity and heft that's undeniably appealing. While American readers may not have the same appetite for medieval minutiae as their Continental counterparts, religious-thriller fans will find much to savor. (Sept.)