The Lake of Learning by M J Rose

The Lake of Learning by M J Rose

For over a decade, Cassiopeia Vitt has been building an authentic French castle, using only materials and techniques from the thirteenth century. But when a treasure is unearthed at the construction site--an ancient book of hours--a multitude of questions are raised, all pointing to an ancient and forgotten religious sect.

Once the Cathars existed all across southern France, challenging Rome and attracting the faithful by the tens of thousands. Eventually, in 1208, the pope declared them heretics and ordered a crusade--the first in which Christians killed Christians--and thousands were slaughtered, with the Cathars all but exterminated. Now a piece of that past has re-emerged, one that holds the key to the hiding place of the most precious object the Cathars possessed. And when more than one person becomes interested in that secret, in particular a thief and a billionaire, the race is on.

From the medieval walled city of Carcassonne to the crest of mysterious Monts gur to a forgotten cavern beneath the Pyrenees, Cassiopeia is drawn deeper and deeper into a civil war between two people obsessed with revenge and murder.

The Lincoln Myth, The King's Deception, The Columbus Affair, The Jefferson Key, The Emperor's Tomb, The Paris Vendetta, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Venetian Betrayal, The Alexandria Connection, The Templar Legacy, The Third Secret, The Romanov Prophecy, and The Amber Room are among Steve Berry's New York Times and #1 international bestselling novels. His books have been translated into 40 languages and sold in 51 countries, totaling more than 17,000,000 copies. Every Steve Berry novel is based on historical events. It was because of this devotion that he and his wife, Elizabeth, founded History Matters, a organization dedicated to historic preservation. Since 2009, Steve and Elizabeth have traveled around the country raising funds through talks, receptions, galas, luncheons, dinners, and their popular writers' workshops to rescue threatened historic treasures.

Over 2,500 pupils have attended the sessions to date. The American Library Association honored their efforts in 2012, naming Steve the inaugural spokesman for National Preservation Week. He was also appointed to the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to help promote and support the libraries' objective of providing information in all forms to scientists, curators, researchers, students, and the general public. He's been awarded the Royden B.

Davis Distinguished Author Award and Poets & Writers' 2013 Writers for Writers Award His novel The Columbus Affair won the Anne Frank Human Writes Prize, and his historic preservation work earned him the International Thriller Writers' Silver Bullet in 2013. Steve Berry was born and raised in Georgia, where he received his education at Walter F. Johnson High School. Mercer University's George School of Law

He worked as a trial lawyer for 30 years, 14 of which he served in elective office. He was a founding member of the International Thriller Writers, a organization of over 2,600 thriller writers from all over the world, and served as its co-president for three years. Visit www.steveberry.org for additional information.