The Chapel in the Woods by Susan Louineau Spotlight!

The Book

File Size: 946 KB

Print Length: 332 pages

Publisher: Susan Louineau (March 12, 2012)

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Language: English

ASIN: B007JBG9HG

When Diana Lescure moves with her young family to the tiny village of Saint Gabriel in the depths of France, it is clear that not all is well amongst its inhabitants. As she settles into her country idyll she uncovers a menace that has shrouded the villagers for generations. Through a 12th century monk and a British agent in WW2 the story of a secret society unfolds.

The Author

"The Chapel in the Woods was borne of a walk in the forest near my home in the Loire Valley where I happened upon a derelict chapel on the edge of a clearing.  It was the sense of history that struck me.  I wondered how many people might have walked through this beautiful place in centuries gone by.  What were their motivations, worries, aims in life and are we really so different from our medieval forbears?"...Susan Louineau

Susan Louineau was born in 1966 in Bombay, India to a linguist father and a school teacher mother. She is the youngest of three with two brothers five and six years her senior. The family moved to Eindhoven, Holland with her father's job, then to Cambridge and subsequently Oxford. She holds a first Class BA (Hons) in French and English Language from La Nouvelle Sorbonne and the Open University.

Susan's international background and the strong influence of her father's language skills drew her to travelling. She spent nine months sleeping on a beach in Greece, backpacked through Egypt and Israel, temped as a legal secretary in Australia but was ultimately drawn to France. As a child she was struck by the exoticism of French food and culture and has remained smitten ever since. 

She began a family whilst studying and working in a bookshop in Paris. With her first child, Jack, and with Anaïs on the way, she moved to the Loire Valley. After seven years the call of home became overwhelming and she returned to the UK. After ten years living in West Cornwall working as a freelance translator and a stint in theatre, she has come home to Oxfordshire. In her spare time she collects languages, loves gardening and has developed a penchant for reggae music!

Susan has been writing stories since she read 'Brer Rabbit', her first ever story, at the age of 4. 'It has just always been a part of me; almost an addiction! Humanity and places are my greatest sources of inspiration; people's life stories can be so absurd that they wouldn't be believable on paper. I am never more comfortable in my skin as when I have a novel on the go. I could not imagine life without writing.'