The Eight

The Eight is a novel by American author Katherine Neville. Amateur chess player Catherine becomes involved in the search for a legendary chess set, the Montglane Service, once owned by Charlemagne. Split into double narratives, the novel also tells the story of eighteenth-century nun Mirellie and her attempts to protect the set.

Tropes:

 * Action Girl: Catherine and Lily, but the most amazing one is Mirelle.
 * Artistic License History: Of course. Just a few: Basque people were never a menace for the Carolingian Empire. The rules for the Mad-Queen Chess, or modern chess, are from the XIV century, making it impossible to have a Chess Master associated with Charlemagne. In fact, in that era, there was no queen at all, but a piece named Vizier.
 * Big Beautiful Woman: Lily starts as this.
 * Big Brother Mentor: Nim to Cat
 * Big Brother Is Watching: Nim could fit into this since he is always one step ahead.
 * Character Development: A lot! Lily starts as a Spoiled Brat and changes to.
 * Chess Motifs: the whole plot of the book.
 * Crazy People Play Chess: one minor player insists that, when he captures a piece, a spectator be kicked out of the room so that the room's 'symmetry' is maintained.
 * Doorstopper: 624 pages in the paperback edition.
 * Glorious Mother Russia: The book is set on the Cold War and in Catherine the Great's Russia.
 * Immortality Seeker
 * It Got Worse:
 * Nerds Are Sexy: Again Alexander Solarin and Lily by the end.
 * Nuns Are Funny: Valentine
 * Rule of Sexy: Solarin and how specially.
 * Significant Birth Date: The main character was born on April 4, which ties in with a lot of the book's numerology and is also said to be an Islamic holy day.
 * Smart People Play Chess
 * Spoiled Brat: Lily is this at the beginning. It Gets Better.
 * Soviet Russia Ukraine and So On: Solarin is the Soviet Grand Master of chess.
 * Talking Through Technique
 * The French Revolution: parts of the narrative are set during the revolution.
 * The French Revolution: parts of the narrative are set during the revolution.