Jon
Katherine “Katie” Elizabeth McGrath [1] (born 24 October[citation needed] 1983[2]) is an Irish actress from Ashford, County Wicklow, Ireland,[3] best known for playing Morgana in the BBC One TV series Merlin.
Labyrinth is an archaeological mystery English-language novel written by Kate Mosse set both in the Middle Ages and present-day France. It was published in 2005.
It divides into two main storylines that follow two protagonists, Alaïs (from the year 1209) and Alice (in the year 2005). The two stories occur in a shared geography and intertwine. The novel relies heavily on historical events such as the massacre at Béziers and the Crusade against the Cathars in Occitania, now the South of France, from around 1200. The text itself features many Occitan and French quotes. Ultimately the story becomes a quest for the Holy Grail.
In the 2006 British Book Awards, Labyrinth was awarded Best Read of the Year. According to The Sunday Times, it was the second best selling book in the United Kingdom in 2006, after The Da Vinci Code, selling about 865,400 copies in paperback. An extract from the novel was used in the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s 2009 Standard Grade English General close reading paper.
[edit] Plot
A Dr Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons at an archaeological site that make her uneasy. She attempts to discover the meaning of words written on the wall there.
Eight hundred years ago in the same place, a young woman called Alais was given three books that she does not understand. Alais decides not to let anyone else understand them at any cost. This is a story about two women who do some things that seem coincidental or synchronistic. ‘Labyrinth’ is a story based in pseudo-historical southern France.
[edit] Television adaptation
A television adaptation of the novel adapted by Adrian Hodges and directed by Christopher Smith is set to be released in 2012.
Two intelligent headstrong heroines, 17-year-old Alaïs Pelletier from 13th century Carcassonne and modern-day PhD graduate Dr. Alice Tanner experience an adventure that intertwines their lives. Separated by time, but united in a common destiny, both protagonists display tremendous courage, steadfastness and loyalty on their respective quests.
As the parallel storylines set in the southwest of France unfold, both ancient and modern-day conspiracies are unearthed, all revolving around three hidden books – The Book of Words, The Book of Potions and The Book of Numbers. Together, these tomes hold the secret of the true Grail, which dates back to the Ancient Egyptian era many years before Christ.
Alaïs and those closest to her must battle to protect the secret. She soon discovers she can trust no one – least of all her cruelly manipulative sister, Oriane. Back in the present day, Alice faces a race against time to put together the curiously familiar pieces of a jigsaw puzzle representing her long-buried history
Ridley Scott and Tony Scott’s Scott Free and Tandem Communications will be producing Mosse’s page-turner together. The series is being adapted by award-winning writer, Adrian Hodges (Primeval, Rome, The Last King).
Based on Kate Mosse’s multi-million copy international bestseller, LABYRINTH will take a global audience on a richly compelling journey through the South of France of the present, and the dark and tortured landscape of the Crusades and Cathar massacres of medieval times. Two spirited and charismatic heroines must somehow work together across the centuries in order to save a four thousand year-old secret from falling into the wrong hands.
LABYRINTH will shoot in the South of France in Autumn 2011, with delivery scheduled for Spring 2012. Kate Mosse’s epic novel has been published in more than thirty-eight languages worldwide; it hit both the New York Times hardcover and paperback Bestseller lists; was the UK’s bestselling fiction title of 2006 and a top ten bestseller in more than twenty-one other major territories.
“LABYRINTH’s story affords us the opportunity to create exciting drama that will thrill and delight the book’s readers worldwide and the viewers, who’ll be discovering it for the first time,” says Ridley Scott of Scott Free. “We look forward to this new chapter in the long-standing relationship between Tandem and Scott Free, and also to bringing the quality that has become the hallmark of our joint efforts with Tandem to yet another piece of event television.”
Rosamond Press 
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