Foodie Lit
Anna Belfrage's A Torch in His Heart
It took 3,000 years until Jason and Helle met again in a new life, one with possibilities of love and safety and the memories of their past lives intertwined. “Jason cleared his throat. ‘We go back three thousand years or so….A simple case of reincarnated souls.’ ”
But they are not the only one in this life from the past. The mission of Sam Woolf, the cruel Prince Simeon, is to take Helle for himself and destroy Jason. The three are locked in a fierce fight both intellectually and physically.
The character of Helle first appeared in the mind of author Anna Belfrage in hher first and most ancient life. “The first time Helle made an appearance in my head, she was dreaming—of lions and people in ancient linen clothes and hot, sun-baked afternoons where the air was laced with the scents of mints and rosemary…., I outlined the story in the past first and then wove it into the storyline set in the present.”
As a child in her ancient world, Helle raised orphan lion cubs, who then protected her. She runs with them, gaining extraordinary strength and speed. She protects Jason like a lioness protects her cubs. ”The lions came with Helle, three large beasts that ran side by side with her towards the sunset…. And she’ll be his lioness yet again in this modern life, springing to his defence with more physical strength than she even knew she had.”
This is a passionate love story. Anna told me, “I was thinking that if Jason had waited fifty lives for Helle – lives where he’d searched the world for her—he’d have quite the pent-up need to make her his, claim her forever. Turns out he did…. how better to celebrate life than to give in to passion?”
Helle at first is not sure if she should believe Jason’s stories about their past lives together. Gradually her memory of those lives return, with their joy and with their pain. Her modern life is full of adventure and passion and like her past lives, filled with fear and uncertainty
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A Torch in His Heart is the first of a series, filled with romance and vengence, of reincarnated souls all born into the same time and place. The modern world of Helle and Jason is in London, filled with daily jobs, dates at Italian delis, visits to Helle’s mom, Miriam Cohen and her fabulous cooking. There is a layer of the normal, but beneath is always a bit of the magical in Anna’s books. In this novel, a series of lives remembered and fought for, powers that Jason and Sam exploit and that Helle must claim. Of course, the real magic is Anna’s writing, in this novel and in her others. She is an author who should be on your list!
On one of their dates, Helle and Jason enjoy Carrot Cake after dinner. Here's my version--Helle's sweet tooth should be satisfied!