Avignon: An Historical Novel

Avignon in 1346 is thriving. Pope Clement VI, removed from Rome, presides over a city notable for its harmony, its tolerance and its wealth. At a time when anti-Semitic feelings are running high in Europe, Clement offers protection to the Jews. Avignon follows the fortunes of a family from the city's Jewish ghetto-Blanchette, a beautiful, headstrong girl, her brilliant brother-in-law, Thoros, and her gossipy, meddling mother, Lea.And their lives are inextricably linked with those of Avignon's Christians-beguiling Gui, nubile page to the Pope's favourite cardinal, Saint-Amant, the city's most notorious womanizer, and the gentle, conflicted Pope himself. Births and deaths, love and enmity, the Jews and Christians of Avignon are equally caught up in the life and tensions of the city.But old ties are tested when the Black Death arrives in Avignon and the inhabitants of this once prosperous city find themselves locked in a desperate and heart-rending battle for survival against all odds.