THE LOST SEIGNEUR

Loux’s tale opens in the Pennsylvania settlement of Penn’s Woods decades after the mysterious disappearance of Jean-Pierre Laux, the eponymous seigneur. A letter arrives at the chateau of Magdalena Laux, wife of a Pennsylvania legislator, warning that a man claiming to be the long-lost father of Magdalena’s own father, Pierre, is on a ship bound for Philadelphia. The life of 20-something Magdalena, a self-proclaimed Cathar, will soon be inexorably changed. Here, the novel jumps back in time to the beginning of the ordeals of Jean-Pierre Laux. He, a Protestant feudal overlord of ancestral land dating back many generations, is walking with his son Pierre, preparing for a two-week trip for an audience with the Catholic King Louis XIV. Jean-Pierre’s beloved wife, Eleanor, is a secret practitioner of the Cathar faith. Although official Catholic persecution of the Cathars has ended centuries earlier, Eleanor worries that the king’s new policy of stationing troops in the home of Protestants will reveal her secret. Her fears are warranted. As Jean-Pierre heads out on his journey, he faces considerable danger. Will he fall prey to a maniacal priest who obsessively hunts out Cathars? Loux prefaces his elegant novel with a useful historical primer for readers not familiar with the history of the Cathars, practitioners of an ascetic and gnostic form of early Christianity. The beautiful, at times lyrical, prose ambles slowly but captivatingly, alternating between Jean-Pierre’s experiences and the lives of his descendants in Pennsylvania. It’s a tale of violence, tragic losses, regret, personal growth, and reconciliation, with vivid portrayals of a curious cast, especially of one compelling secondary character, a waif who takes on increasing importance. With a touch of mysticism plus a couple of deranged villains, the novel is an intriguing mix of personal saga and disturbing religious history.