Labyrinth
question
Is this a time-slip with A Wheel of Stars?
Lorraine
Apr 02, 2013 06:07AM
I was drawn to watch Channel 4’s drama based on Kate Mosse’s novel Labyrinth. I was shocked and confused to find myself believing at first that this was a re-hashing of Laura Gilmour Bennett’s ‘A Wheel of Stars’. I read that book back in 1993 and so compelling, well written, believable and hauntingly beautiful was it, that I never ever forgot it. The identical features of both novels are: two women linked over 800 years, a setting in the Languedoc region of France, the persecution of the Cathars, and a secret surrounding the Holy Grail. I was disappointed to find, (if Channel 4’s drama is anything to go by) that the later novel would appear to be vastly inferior with an unbelievable plot full of ludicrous inconsistencies. For example the Holy Grail wasn’t even The Holy Grail, since it predated Christianity and had nothing to do with a vessel of any kind. However I am amazed that the uncanny resemblances haven’t been flagged up by others who have read both novels? For those that haven’t, I would strongly recommend anyone who enjoys time-slip fiction and first class literature to read A Wheel of Stars. I don’t want to mention the ‘P’ word, but the similarities (if not the quality) are too close for comfort............
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It does sound very similar. However, this whole reincarnation and Cathars thing has been around for some time. I recall reading a non-fiction book in the 1970s by Arthur Guirdham called Cathars and Reincarnation which cited circumstantial evidence of remembered past lives.
However, I then read a critique of this technique in Ian Wilson's Reincarnation who also cited another book about, I think, St Helena, where a 'remembered' past life as this mother of the Emperor Constantine was shown to be derived from a novel the 'rememberer' had read when she was younger. His conclusion was that much remembering of past lives wasn't necessarily fraudulent, just faulty memory vividly recalled. Guirdham, for example, had already read a lot about the Cathars.
While Kate Mosse may have been familiar with A Wheel of Stars, it may be that both authors were drawing on their reading of Guirdham's thesis in the 70s which concerned 'remembered lives' in the Midi and the French Pyrenees. Add to that Mosse's love of Carcassonne and you don't have to resort to the P word.
The same scenario applies to Dan Brown's debt to Holy Blood Holy Grail in his The Da Vinci Code: it's not plagiarism if you draw on a supposedly non-fiction study for your novel.
By the way, I still haven't seen the Channel 4 mini-series: the book was just so awful and the reviews of the programmes so dismissive I think I have to be in a mood for a laugh in order to watch it on catch-up TV.
However, I then read a critique of this technique in Ian Wilson's Reincarnation who also cited another book about, I think, St Helena, where a 'remembered' past life as this mother of the Emperor Constantine was shown to be derived from a novel the 'rememberer' had read when she was younger. His conclusion was that much remembering of past lives wasn't necessarily fraudulent, just faulty memory vividly recalled. Guirdham, for example, had already read a lot about the Cathars.
While Kate Mosse may have been familiar with A Wheel of Stars, it may be that both authors were drawing on their reading of Guirdham's thesis in the 70s which concerned 'remembered lives' in the Midi and the French Pyrenees. Add to that Mosse's love of Carcassonne and you don't have to resort to the P word.
The same scenario applies to Dan Brown's debt to Holy Blood Holy Grail in his The Da Vinci Code: it's not plagiarism if you draw on a supposedly non-fiction study for your novel.
By the way, I still haven't seen the Channel 4 mini-series: the book was just so awful and the reviews of the programmes so dismissive I think I have to be in a mood for a laugh in order to watch it on catch-up TV.
one of the book iwas read and still feel inspire of the story and watch the drama on chanell 4 very much liken it .
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