The City of Tears

A Sweeping Historical Adventure from the No. 1 Bestselling Author

Kate Mosse

Price: £9.99

On Sale: 10 April 2025

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About the Book

A Sunday Times Best Paperbacks of the Year Pick

‘Mosse is a master storyteller’ – Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe

An epic historical adventure, sweeping from Carcassonne to Paris and Amsterdam, The City of Tears by Kate Mosse is the gripping second volume of The Joubert Family Chronicles.

Paris, 1572. For ten violent years, the Wars of Religion have raged across France. Now, peace has been brokered and a royal wedding negotiated that could see the country reunited at last.

An invitation has arrived for Minou Joubert and her family to attend this historic wedding. But what Minou doesn’t know is that her family’s oldest enemy will also be there, that the Jouberts will soon be scattered to the winds after tragedy strikes, and that a beloved child will disappear without a trace . . .

A thrilling story of one family’s fight to survive against the devastating tides of history, The City of Tears is the second novel in the series. Continue the adventure with The Ghost Ship.

'Religious fanaticism, political intrigue and the heart-wrenching tale of a lost child . . . with women firmly centre stage' – The Mail on Sunday

Praise for The Joubert Family Chronicles:

'A tour de force' — The Observer, on The Burning Chambers

'An utterly absorbing epic' — Lucy Foley, bestselling author of The Paris Apartment, on The City of Tears

'Meticulously researched and stunningly written' — Santa Montefiore, bestselling author of Wait for Me, on The Ghost Ship

Author

Kate Mosse CBE FRSL is an award-winning novelist, playwright, essayist and non-fiction writer. The author of eleven novels and short-story collections, her books have been translated into thirty-eight languages and published in more than forty countries. Fiction includes the multimillion-selling Languedoc Trilogy, The Joubert Family Chronicles (the number one bestselling The Burning Chambers, The City of Tears, The Ghost Ship and The Map of Bones), and number one bestselling Gothic fiction. Her highly acclaimed non-fiction includes An Extra Pair of Hands and Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World. The Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, she is the founder of the global #WomanInHistory campaign. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Kate is a Visiting Professor of Contemporary Fiction and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester, President of the Festival of Chichester, an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Authors and a Trustee of the British Library.

Reviews

That rare thing, a novel with vast scope and ambition, brilliantly achieved, but also deeply personal, finely detailed and nuanced. I was utterly immersed in this spell-binding story - Rosamund Lupton, author of Three Hours

A gorgeously written, utterly absorbing epic and, despite being set in the sixteenth century, has some very pertinent messages for our time about the evils of religious persecution and the transcendent power of love and family. In case it’s not clear enough yet, I absolutely LOVED it - Lucy Foley, author of The Hunting Party

Magnificent, epic - Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups

[A] dramatic, immersive tale of secrets, conspiracies, fanaticism and loss - Daily Mail

Mosse’s novel is an enjoyable, intricately plotted piece of escapism - The Times

Mosse shows a deft command of character and narrative in this second volume of a planned sequence - The Sunday Times

Mosse includes all the ingredients you would expect from a historical epic – murder, treachery, lost children, stolen relics, buried secrets - Stephanie Merritt, The Observer

Religious fanaticism, political intrigue and the heart-wrenching tale of a lost child add to a highly readable historical adventure, with women firmly centre stage - The Mail on Sunday

Every inch a classic Mosse novel, The City of Tears is diligently researched, beautifully written and, crucially right now, both substantial and immersive – if you want to leave twenty-first-century pandemic Britain behind, this should be your preferred mode of transport - Radio Times

Deft touches show a mastery of preparation, suspension and resolution within the historical thriller form - Financial Times

This powerful story of love, secrets and deceit is pacy, rich and stylish – and as compelling as they come. One to stay up late for - Isabel Ashdown, author of Lake Child

A vibrant sequel to 2018’s The Burning Chambers . . . The fascinating historical detail fuels the drama and keeps the plot zipping along - Publishers Weekly

Mosse’s narrative lyricism, beautifully drawn female characters and deft journey from the past to the present day are a cut above - Scotland on Sunday on The Burning Chambers

Mosse is a master storyteller - Madeline Miller, author of Circe

A powerful storyteller with an abundant imagination - The Daily Telegraph

Mosse’s fans will relish this tale of secrets, love and treachery - The Times on The Burning Chambers

Another of Mosse’s immersive dramas, which takes you to the heart of the past - Grazia on The Burning Chambers

Gripping, complex and intensely atmospheric - The Mail on Sunday on The Burning Chambers

Deliciously detailed . . . a fast-paced and sweeping epic - The Shields Gazette

Product Details

ISBN: 9781035015177

Published: 10 April 2025

560 Pages