Sepulchre by Kate Mosse (audiobook)

1891, France - 17 year old Leonie Vernier and her brother Anatole have been invited to spend some time with Isolde, widow to their uncle.  Their mother, Marguerite, encourages the trip, wanting to spend time with her lover.  Anatole needs the trip to recover from his grief at losing his fiance the previous spring.  Although Leonie dreads leaving Paris for a boring country estate like the Domaine de la Cade, the opportunity to spend time with her beloved brother is something she cannot turn down.

2007, France - Meridith Martin arrives at her hotel, the Domaine de la Cade, to work on her biography of the great composer Claude Debussy.  Her work is pushed aside, however, by a personal quest which she cannot deny.  She is searching for her lost ancestors, and all she has to guide her are a photo of a young soldier taken in nearby Renne le Bain and a piece of sheet music entitled "Sepulchre 1891".

In addition to the Domaine de la Cade, both young women are connected through a very special deck of Tarot cards.  Meredith through a strange reading she received in Paris prior to her trip to the Domaine, and Leonie through a book found in her uncle's library describing a demon called forth through the cards, music and a mysterious Sepulchre.

Donada Peters was the voice behind this audiobook.  Peters is the pseudonym of Wanda McCaddon, who also narrates under the name Nadia May.  She has been narrating audiobooks since the early 1980s, and her audiography includes Zoe Heller's What Was She Thinking? (Nadia May), Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility (Wanda McCaddon) and The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (Donada Peters).  Her skill at imitating accents is wonderful, and she uses British, American, and several French dialects in Sepulchre.  I'm certain I would have loved reading Sepulchre myself, but Peters was a delight for the ears.

Sepulchre blends mystery, a little romance, terror and the supernatural.  It may seem like a bit much for one book, yet Mosse pulls it off beautifully.  The idea of flipping between 1891 and 2007 may seem jarring, and with some authors it probably is.  However, Mosse has a beautiful and delicate touch to her writing, creating a flow between the two heroines and their time periods.  The characters that she has created in Leonie and Meredith are strong, smart and loyal, without seeming like duplicates of each other.

A bonus to this 16 disc, 20+ hour CD is the "intermission music" at the beginning and end of each CD.  I don't know who or what it is, and my brief 20 second research a moment ago yielded no answers.  It's a haunting melody, though, and I'll give a dollar to whoever can find the answer for me.  OK, I really won't, but I'll like ya a whole lot!!!!

My verdict: a wonderful book which keeps the reader hooked throughout. 4/5

* review done at the express request of Ladybug