The Nobility of the Robe

by Colette Obrien

Richly detailed and epic in scope, The Nobility of the Robe brings to life the power of two passionate personalities committed to realizing their dreams. Combining a real historical character with a modern-day thriller, the novel dances across the time/space continuum faster than the speed of light. Iceland, 2009--Claire Blaise is a brilliant physicist whose passion is to travel to the past, but when her highly sought technology is stolen and her life threatened, she's swept into an international intrigue that spans the centuries where her true purpose and the love of her life await her. The Marais, Paris, 1600-- Against the backdrop of the degenerate 17th Century in France, Angelique Arnauld is sent to become the abbess of Port Royal Abbey at eight years old. Conspiracies, arrests without charge & kidnapping encapsulate the romance and terror of her life as she fights for what she believes is right--reforming the abbey. In the next 40 years she becomes instrumental in improving conditions not only within her own abbey, but in the Catholic Church in France. Famous in her lifetime, she aligns with others in a movement known as the Jansenist Heresy. When Claire is able to travel to the past, she meets Angelique and discovers a passionate love for la Mere's brother, Antoine; a writer and orator for the Jansenist cause. Aligned with Angelique, Claire must uncover the secrets buried in the 17th Century and the chilling truth that threatens her life in Iceland in the 21st.