"Monts gur entirely escapes the mould. Congratulations. I read it in one sitting, so pleased was I by the inexorable forward movement of the plot and by the clever framing of the narrative... Deathbed Esme and William Belibaste was an inspired idea... Also inspired: the story-stones possessed by Esme and her pals. It was a wholly believable slice of the supernatural. I wondered how de Courcy would deal with Montsegur, March 1244-after all,...