The Castle of Whispers

by Carole Martinez

Overview

In 1187, on the day of her wedding, the beautiful 15-year-old Esclarmonde scandalizes the court when she refuses to accept the knight chosen by her father, the lord of the domain of Whispers. She defies her father’s wishes and vows to give herself to God, for which he imprisons her in a cell adjoining the castle’s chapel. Instead of the peaceful solitude she sought, Esclarmonde finds in her cell the crossroads between the living and the dead. Walled in, with nothing but a single barred window to connect her to the outside world, Esclarmonde nevertheless exerts a mysterious and pervasive power over the kingdom. The virgin sorceress reaches a saint-like status, and men and women journey from far and wide to hear her speak. Esclarmonde even persuades her father to wage war in the Holy Land, resulting in a massacre of staggering proportions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609451820
Publisher:	Europa
Publication date:	02/04/2014
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Carole Martinez teaches French at a middle school in Issy-les-Moulineaux. She began writing during her maternity leave in 2005. The Castle of Whispers is her second novel, following The Threads of the Heart.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In Carole Martinez’s lush prose, this period novel appears astonishingly modern… The Castle of Whispers rolls out its music, intoxicating.”—L’express
 
“The second novel from Carole Martinez is cut from the same cloth as her first, The Threads of the Heart…It confirms that this 44-year-old woman is a marvelous storyteller.”—Le Figaro
 
“From one finely orchestrated plot twist to another, the story—or rather the heady voice of Esclarmonde—pulls us through time to the realm of the living and of the dead, of history and of legend.”—Télérama
 
“There is much D. H. Lawrence in Carole Martinez’s writing.”—Bibliobs

Editorial Reviews

02/17/2014
In her second novel, Martinez (The Threads of the Heart) illuminates a poetic, enigmatic and exhilarating tale, challenging the boundaries between reality and mystery; between society and gender; and between choice and fate. The year is 1187. After outraging the court by refusing her betrothed on her wedding day, the beautiful and brave 15-year-old Esclarmonde resolves to live "confined until her death little sealed cell" attached to a chapel on a cliff. Locked in the darkness of her tomb forevermore, she discovers a "crossroads where the living and the dead meet" and she begins her life as the Virgin of Whispers, the mystical imprisoned damsel who speaks from the Castle of Whispers. Destined for solitude, Esclarmonde, who unbeknownst to the kingdom is pregnant, gives birth to a son, who, like his mother, becomes renowned across the land. The destiny of anchoress in the castle is further complicated as she, with the help of her prophetic son, begins to advise her father to wage war on the holy land. Through mystical and miraculous turns, Martinez engrosses readers into a story of transcendence, redemption and survival. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

In Carole Martinez’s lush prose, this period novel appears astonishingly modern… The Castle of Whispers rolls out its music, intoxicating.”—L’express
 
“The second novel from Carole Martinez is cut from the same cloth as her first, The Threads of the Heart…It confirms that this 44-year-old woman is a marvelous storyteller.”—Le Figaro
 
“From one finely orchestrated plot twist to another, the story—or rather the heady voice of Esclarmonde—pulls us through time to the realm of the living and of the dead, of history and of legend.”—Télérama
 
“There is much D. H. Lawrence in Carole Martinez’s writing.”—Bibliobs

From the Publisher

2013-12-07
Rather than marry a brute, a 12th-century damsel opts for the life of an anchoress, walled up in a cell, in this mystical French story infused with fairy tale and feminism. On a cliff overlooking the Loue River, the ruined Castle of Whispers is given voice by its virgin, Esclarmonde, the beautiful daughter of a minor lord but great knight, who in 1187 evades the powerlessness of most of her gender by refusing the hand of a rough nobleman, choosing faith instead and a life bricked up inside a cell attached to a chapel forevermore. Her only access to the world is a barred window outside which visitors and pilgrims begin to gather. However, just prior to her entombment, Esclarmonde was raped, and although able to conceal her pregnancy from attendants and believers, she can't conceal the resultant baby, a son, Elzéar. Deftly blurring the line between reality and mystery, Martinez (The Threads of the Heart, 2012) keeps the reader guessing about the story's miraculous events and its characters' powers, including Elzéar's--the son who may be capable of delivering powerful visions, allowing his mother to glimpse the terrible suffering of her father's army, which is heading to the Crusades. This and other tragedies intensify Esclarmonde's fate, leading to a cataclysmic yet transcendent conclusion. Transient in impact, but a powerfully visualized magic-realist fable.

Kirkus Reviews