Daughters of Babylon by Elaine Stirling *Review*

*I have received a free copy of this book for my honest review*
“Sometimes, the only way to the future is through the present of someone else’s past.”

Confused? So is Silvina Kestral when she agrees to clear out the house of an eccentric dead actress amidst the ruins of a medieval priory in the French Pyrenees. Speaking of confusion, who were the Daughters of Babylon, and what does a tall dark stranger in the attic have to do with Creation’s mightiest secrets? To find out, you’d have to ask either a Mexican cane cutter with a party of witches and a sense of rhyme, or a 19-year-old, badly married queen named Eleanor of Aquitaine. 

Problem is, where to start? And once started, what if the task never, ever ends… 

Literary historical mysteries, split timeline puzzle mysteries, magical realism mystery: whatever term you choose to label them, the ability of these genre-blending books to trap the reader in a labyrinth of intrigue and wonder has won them many fans in recent years. With Daughters of Babylon, Elaine Stirling pushes to the front rank of literary mystery authors. 

Crusader battles in the Holy Land, painful love affairs and courtly romance, a remote French community not far from Carcassonne where events in the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine still resonate powerfully today: some of the ingredients of Daughters of Babylon might appear familiar at first. But spiced with Gabo-style Mesoamerican magical realism courtesy of the Mexican nagual and his witches, the resulting brew has a rich flavor unique to this book. 

Three timelines appear at first to be faint echoes of each other, but as we begin to learn from the understanding of cyclical deep time known to the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans, we see that at some level these times are not separated at all. 

And the links between these times have been induced for a noble purpose; they are not coincidences, nor contrived ‘leakage’ across time due to a dramatic event. This book describes a maniobra, a magical deep time maneuver of extraordinary complexity. 

One that continues to this day.
MY THOUGHTS

 Yes I liked this book and I found the story to be original  but I did find that there were parts that were a little slow. It was a good story though and it did manage to keep me reading.  Would I read it again? Maybe at some point in the future.

I know a lot of you will enjoy this one.

I give this 3 1/3 out of 5 stars.

 You can purchase  this book at amazon.com , amazon.ca and Barnes & Noble

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