"The Book Of Secrets was released in late 1997 on Loreena McKennitt's own label, Quinlan Road, via the Warner group, worldwide. It has proven, since then, to be the artist's greatest critical and commercial success to date, with gold, platinum and multiplatinum certifications in Canada, the United States, Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, New Zealand, Greece (where it debuted at number one on the national album chart) and elsewhere."

Review:

The Book of Secrets is best described as a mystical experience.

McKennitt takes listeners on a musical journey inspired by Eastern and Celtic roots traced to Istanbul; an ancient monk's tale of his journey from the monastery of Iviron on Mount Athos in 587 AD to Byzantium; and an account of a mumming troupe ("The Mummers' Dance", the radio hit) with a chorus adapted from a song traditionally sung in Abingdon in Oxfordshire.

She wanders from Sufism, Irish monastaries copying and creating beautiful illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells on the Skelleig Islands during the Dark Ages, to Venice and Marco Polo's "book of secrets" about his discoveries in the East ("Skelleg" and "Marco Polo").

A major highlight on this disc is "The Highwayman", a tragic poem by Alfred Noyes that was inspired by the picturesque landscape surrounding Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, where she produced and recorded The Book Of Secrets. "Night Ride Across the Caucasus" feels like an eastern tinged, ancient traveller's journeys.

Loreena McKennitt's songs stem from her experiences, philosophies, spiritual meanderings, and the stories, myths and legends she finds on her travels. The Book Of Secrets is a brilliant and thoughtful work.

Reviewed by D. Davavich