Recluse Clare Benning, a wildlife veterinary specialist, receives a panic call from her neighbor. She has discovered a poisonous snake on her sleeping infant. Thus begins the worst week in Clare's life. Suddenly, in her quiet English village there is an epidemic of snakes. One man dies from snakebite, but the venom in his blood shows a great deal more toxin than one snake could produce. A family awakens to find dozens of snakes in their house. With Clare's reputation concerning reptiles, she becomes a reluctant and wary detective trying to discover who is using snakes to terrorize the village.

Battling her own demons over her facial disfigurement, Clare summons the courage to work with an attractive policeman. Their interaction takes her out of her comfort zone as she attempts to cope with people. As she pokes into the village's history, Clare uncovers disturbing secrets -- a mysterious fire in a church 50 years ago, an old rundown house and elderly villagers hiding the truth about a strange family who inhabited the house.

As Clare probes deeper, she needs all the survival skills she learned to deal with cruelty. Someone wants to stop her and framing her for murder sets the police on her. Their relentless barrage of questions accelerates her crisis of loss of faith and hope.

AWAKENING is an extraordinary, suspenseful mystery with multiple threads weaving between folk lore, mysticism and true evil. The perils engulfing the damaged Clare make it a true page-turner. In addition, Ms. Bolton shows even the most snake-phobic the innate beauty of snakes.