Victor Hugo's daughter drowned in 1843, and for ten years he
held séances in order to try and contact her from his home
on the Isle of Jersey. During these séances he claimed to
have spoken to various influential people such as Dante,
Plato, Shakespeare, Jesus and the devil. The transcripts of
these exchanges were published.
Today, mythologist Jac
L'Etoile is suffering from her own grief and her work takes
her to the Isle of Jersey, researching the island's
mysterious Celtic roots. She finds many spooky landmarks,
but Theo Gaspard, who invited her there, is looking for
Hugo's transcripts from so long ago. He specifically wants
to read about Hugo's conversations with the Shadow of the
Sepulcher. His grandfather had died trying to locate these
papers, and now Gaspard must find them. The mystery that
follows their search soon becomes deadly.
SEDUCTION is my first M.J. Rose novel, and by the time I
closed
the book, I could see why she has such a big and loyal fan
base. Rose has the ability to make you care about the
characters she creates, even if they do not feel fully
fleshed out. It's a talent that Rose uses to her advantage,
along with the ability to bring an intriguing tale to the
reader, pulling them in from the beginning easily.
I love a
good ghost story and wasn't disappointed. The séances were
fascinating and using them as a means to speak to a dead
loved one also piqued my curiosity. I have dabbled a little
bit in the paranormal, and was pleased to see how she
handled this subject.
It's not the story line itself that
stands out, but the way Rose wrote it. Her prose is lovely
and she had me engrossed no matter which time
period I was reading (the story takes place in both the
1840s and present). Her descriptions were immaculate,
transporting me to the locations in my head. I particularly
loved the antique feel to the story. If you love
supernatural suspense, ghosts, and romance with historical
elements, try SEDUCTION today.
A gothic tale about Victor Hugo's long–buried secrets
and the power of a love that never dies . . . In 1843,
novelist Victor Hugo's beloved
nineteen–year–old daughter drowned. Ten years
later, still grieving, Hugo initiated hundreds of séances
from his home on the Isle of Jersey in order to reestablish
contact with her. In the process, he claimed to have
communed with Plato, Galileo, Shakespeare, Dante,
Jesus—and even the devil himself. Hugo's
transcriptions of these conversations have all been
published.
Or so it has been believed . . .
Recovering from a great loss, mythologist Jac L'Etoile
thinks that throwing herself into work will distract her
from her grief. In the hopes of uncovering a secret about
the island's mysterious Celtic roots, she arrives on Jersey
and is greeted by ghostly Neolithic monuments, medieval
castles and hidden caves. But the man who has invited her
there, a troubled soul named Theo Gaspard, hopes she'll
help him discover something quite different—
transcripts of Hugo's lost conversations with someone he
called the Shadow of the Sepulcher. Central to his
heritage, these are the papers his grandfather died trying
to find. Neither Jac nor Theo anticipate that the mystery
surrounding Victor Hugo will threaten their sanity and put
their very lives at stake.