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  • Location: Chartres

The Cleaner of Chartres

The Cleaner of Chartres

Why a Booktrail?

2000s: There is something special about the ancient cathedral of Chartres, not to mention the woman found cleaning it each morning

  • ISBN: 978-0241981009
  • Genre: Fiction

What you need to know before your trail

There is something special about the ancient cathedral of Chartres, with its mismatched spires, astonishing stained glass  not to mention Agnès Morel, the mysterious woman who is to be found cleaning it each morning.

No one quite knows where she came from – Abbé Paul discovered her one morning twenty years ago, sleeping in the north porch. But everyone she comes across, or rather everyone who comes across her finds her subtly transforming their lives, even if they couldn’t quite say how.

But with such a mysterious woman in their village, some believe she is not who or what she seems. As the hearsay grows uglier, Agnès is forced to confront her history, and the mystery of her origins finally unfolds.

Travel Guide

The magical and mythical town of Chartres

What a magical world is recreated in this novel!

“The old town of Chartes, around which the modern town unaesthetically sprawls, is built on a natural elevation that rises from a wide, wheat-growing plain in the region of Beauce in central France. Visitors and pilgrims, who since earliest times have made their ways to the ancient side, can see the cathedral of Notre-Dame from many miles off, the twin spires, like lofty beacons, encouraging them onwards”

The Cathedral

Five cathedrals have stood on the site we are told, each one destroyed by fire. Since the cathedral has long given the town its identity and religious purpose, the cathedral which stands today is a homage to the hard work of those who rebuilt it, saved much of the relics inside.

Agnes Morel arrives in Chartres some 800 years after the present day cathedral is first built. The villagers can’t remember the first time they saw her, other than the fact she has always been there, a part of the town as much as the cathedral itself.

The cathedral is impressive and plays a huge role in the life of Chartres and surrounding areas. It touches the lives of all who live there, visit it, and worship at its altars.

Streetview Maps

A) Chartres Cathedral
A) Chartres Cathedral

Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Cleaner of Chartres

Author/Guide: Salley Vickers  Destination: Chartres  Departure Time: 2000s

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