by Andrew Taylor (Author)
`Complex, with lots of sinister implications... moves the traditional crime novel on to some deeper level of exploration' Jane Jakeman, Independent
It is 1970. David Byfield, a widowed parish priest with a dark past and a darker future, brings home a new wife to Roth. Throughout the summer, the consequences of the marriage reverberate through a village now submerged in a sprawling London suburb.
Blinded by lust, Byfield is oblivious to the dangers that lie all about him: the menopausal churchwarden with a hopeless passion for her priest; his beautiful, neglected teenage daughter Rosemary; and the sinister presence of Frances Youlgreave - poet, opium addict and suicide - whose power stretches beyond the grave.
Soon the murders and blasphemies begin. But does the responsibility lie in the present or the past? And can Byfield, a prisoner of his own passion, break through to the truth before the final tragedy destroys what he most cherishes?
Format: Paperback
Pages: 378
Edition: New e.
Publisher: HarperFiction
Published: 05 Feb 2001
ISBN 10: 000710510X
ISBN 13: 9780007105106
`An intelligent, exciting psychological drama... A powerful feeling of something nasty just around the corner prevails'
Daily Mail
`This author knows precisely how to wield suspense'
Independent
`Taylor is a major thriller talent'
Time Out
Andrew Taylor is the award-winning author of a number of crime novels, including the Dougal series, the Lydmouth books, and The Barred Window. He and his wife live with their children in the Forest of Dean.