I found some of this story really uncomfortable to get through but it was worth pursuing with. The author writes historical detail convincingly, it made me wnat to visit Norwich where much of the actin was set. I liked the way the chapters start with the mandrake's herbal and the mystical side of...
Elena hurried down the length of the solar to the door of Lady Anne's bedchamber at the far end. She was praying that Athan had received her message. They wouldn't have long; she just hoped that it would be long enough. First, though, she had to retrieve the mandrake from where she had hidden...
Thus can death run swiftly through a town. River Witham, Lincolnshire ‘Help me! I beg you, help me!’ The cry was muffled in the dense, freezing mist that swirled over the black river. As his punt edged upstream, Gunter caught the distant wail and dug his pole into the river bottom try...
The bell for Prime not yet rung; the beguinage was hushed, still wrapped in sleep. I knelt on the rushes, gazing up at the wooden crucifix nailed above my cot. “Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Lord, send the fire of your spirit to rest upon all those who rise cold and hungry—” Th...
The chosen victim will die within the year, because his spirit has been stolen from him and it will be compelled to guard the building for ever. Lincoln That vile old crone, Eadhild, is following me. I try to keep her at bay by avoiding the Greesen steps of an evening, even though it deprives me ...