The Book of Love

by Kathleen McGowan Narrated by Linda Stephens

Overview

Journalist Maureen Pascal receives a mysterious package from an anonymous source. It appears to be an ancient document written in Latin and signed in code by a ? famous woman in the eleventh century, Matilda of Tuscany. .

History has overlooked-or covered up-Matilda, but Maureen realizes the significance of the document and a new search begins. Matilda's long-hidden scrolls demand the return of her “most precious books and documents” to the Abbey of Orval-the same Abbey from which the prophecy of the Expected One originated. Maureen plunges into the search for the Book of Love, the gospel written in Jesus' own hand, and begins to see the eerie connections between herself and Matilda. .

Expertly researched with dazzling plot twists, The Book of Love is a spiritual thriller sure to delight readers as they follow Maureen across Europe as she uncovers secrets and shines light on the hidden corners of Christianity..

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Maureen Paschal, last seen discovering the secrets of Mary Magdalene in The Expected One, returns in this overstuffed sequel. Haunted by dreams of Jesus telling her to search for "the Book of Love," Maureen, now a bestselling novelist, takes off for France, where her estranged lover, Bérenger Sinclair, reveals that the mysterious manuscript is supposed to be a gospel written by Christ and whose existence is merely a rumor. Both Maureen and Bérenger receive strange clues pointing them toward the story of Countess Matilda of Tuscany, an 11th-century noblewoman and an early champion of the Book of Love. With the help of Maureen's cousin, a Jesuit scholar at the Vatican, Maureen confronts dangerous forces bent on covering up the truth and follows Matilde's trail though Belgium, Italy and France, culminating in a stunning sequence within the Chartres Cathedral. However, Matilda's hefty story line exists uneasily next to Maureen's contemporary narrative and relies too much on long-winded narration to explain Christian esoterica. Series fans and readers into Da Vinci Code- style church intrigue will enjoy the hell out of this. (Mar.)

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Library Journal

This second entry in McGowan's "Magdalene Line" series is sure to please fans of The Expected One and entice new readers enthralled with conspiracy theories. Following her discovery of the Mary Magdalene gospel and the subsequent publication of her fictional account of that discovery, journalist Maureen Paschal and Madgalene scholar Berenger Sinclair receive a mysterious package holding an ancient document written in Latin and in code. Research determines that the diary belonged to a little-known woman from history, Matilda of Tuscany. Her diary reveals Matilda's participation in a secret Cather society, her marriage to a pope, and her mission to protect what may just be the most important book in history-the teachings of Jesus, written in his own hand. From Rome to France, from the Inquisition to the present, Maureen and Berenger search for clues that will lead them to the brink of danger while they fulfill their own destiny. McGowan is a master storyteller, and her latest will appeal to Da Vinci Code fans still awaiting Dan Brown's next thriller. Highly recommended for all public libraries and academic libraries with conspiracy collections.
—Nanci Milone Hill

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170739769
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	03/10/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

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