A dazzling debut historical novel exploring the occult underbelly of 19th century Paris. It is Paris in the 1880s and the century is in its final decadent throes as it moves towards the fin de siecle. New scientific ideas are countered by a resurgent interest in the practice of magic, whilst in the arts the Symbolists are exploring the strangeness of dream and the imagination. In the Salpetriere Hospital, hundreds of female patients are suffering from the curious malady of 'hysteria'. Many of these are being treated by hypnosis under the regime of the celebrated and charismatic Professor J-M. Charcot. One such patient is Madeleine Seguin, a young woman whose past is a mystery and who evokes a fascination and possessiveness in those who come close to her. As well as the doctors Madeleine will encounter a young Symbolist artist, a Catholic priest, a powerful aristocrat, and most dangerously, those practising the darkest aspects of the occult, each of whom will try to save or corrupt her. She must survive them all if she is to shape her own destiny.
A gripping novel exploring the lives of three Carmaelite nuns seen through the eyes of an eccentric psychoanalyst in the early 1900's set across Paris, Africa and Spain. Spain, 1920s. The lives of three Carmelite nuns intersect and develop through a period of intense experience. In their personal histories there is great contrast, from the artistic exuberance of Paris in 'La Belle Epoque' to slavery in Africa, but a past element is shared that has deeply affected each one. William Rose adeptly guides the narrative through Africa, Spain and France in the early decades of the 20th century, as the characters reveal their histories and discover the destinies that await them. This novel is a striking exploration of personal history aided by the spirited observations of an eccentric French psychoanalyst. It is also an emotive reflection upon the agony of maternal loss and betrayal, and upon love.
In appearance they are the same, but their personalities are strangely different. Intertwined in their lives is the Marques de Mansura, who seems to defy time and the normal bounds of reality and whose fascination with identical twins contains the perverse wish to induce the annihilation of one twin by the other. His powerful influence and occult powers threaten to bring about this very end. For those who wish to save them, there will be a monumental struggle that will take them to Paris in the decadent 1860s, to the Tabernas Desert in Spain, and even, through an occult trick of time, Ancient Alexandria of the 2nd Century BC. Their paths will cross with Cora Pearl, the renowned Parisian courtesan, the artists, Gustave Moreau, Gustave Dore, and the flamboyant, Felicien Rops. The poet, Alfred Tennyson, will also play a role and the twin Mariana bears an uncanny resemblance to the Mariana of his tragic poem, 'Mariana in the South', written before she was born. Whilst Mariana hopes for peace and solace in the desert, her twin, Marguerite, moves towards villainy as her dark, guiding star.This novel is a striking exploration of the fascination of identical twins cleverly set across 1860s Paris, the Tabernas Desert in Spain and Ancient Alexandria.
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