Revelation "Reve" Dyer flees Las Vegas after a magic act goes awry when someone puts a real bullet in the prop gun they used for an illusion, leaving Reve's beloved husband dead. At the suggestion of her grandmother, Reve and her three daughters return to Hawley Five Corners, a place Reve explored frequently as a child. Her grandmother also reminds her of a story she once told Reve of a Fetch, a shadowy creature that steals humans to the fairy world. Will Reve learn how to use the ancient magic of her family in time to stop the Fetch that is now seeking her family?
Chrysler Szarlan creates a haunting ambience that pervades every aspect of THE HAWLEY BOOK OF THE DEAD. From the abandoned village of Hawley Five Corners that is shrouded in fear, to the spooky story of the Fetch, every detail in THE HAWLEY BOOK OF THE DEAD builds an atmosphere that lingers with the reader long past the last page being turned. Chrysler Szarlan has a gift for using the world around her characters to evoke various moods and feelings.
I love the history of Reve's family and all the various powers each woman has manifested. We meet a plethora of characters as Chrysler Szarlan tells us a story that weaves back and forth between various time periods. I have to admit that I found Reve's daughters to be slightly annoying at times but the other characters we meet are simply fascinating.
Chrysler Szarlan has some marvelous surprises in store for the reader as THE HAWLEY BOOK OF THE DEAD is a tale unlike any I've ever read. THE HAWLEY BOOK OF THE DEAD is a magical tale that transcends genres as Chrysler Szarlan blends together horror, historical fiction, contemporary suspense, and a touch of romance to craft a tale that is brilliantly executed. I'm excited that THE HAWLEY BOOK OF THE DEAD is part of a quartet as I can't wait to see what the future holds, particularly in light of the revelations we learn about the family history. THE HAWLEY BOOK OF THE DEAD is highly recommended!
For fans of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and A
Discovery of Witches comes a brilliantly imagined debut
novel brimming with rich history, suspense, and magic.
Revelation βReveβ Dyer grew up with her grandmotherβs
family
stories, stretching back centuries to Reveβs ancestors,
who
founded the town of Hawley Five Corners, Massachusetts.
Their history is steeped in secrets, for few outsiders
know
that an ancient magic runs in the Dyer womenβs blood, and
that Reve is a magician whose powers are all too real.
Reve and her husband are world-famous Las Vegas
illusionists. They have three lovely young daughters, a
beautiful home, and what seems like a charmed life. But
Reveβs world is shattered when an intruder alters her
trick
pistol and she accidentally shoots and kills her beloved
husband onstage.
Fearing for her daughtersβ lives, Reve flees with them to
the place she has always felt safestβan antiquated
farmhouse
in the forest of Hawley Five Corners, where the magic of
her
ancestors reigns, and her oldest friendβand first loveβis
the townβs chief of police. Here, in the forest, with its
undeniable air of enchantment, Reve hopes she and her
girls
will be protected.
Delving into the past for answers, Reve is drawn deeper
into
her familyβs legends. What she discovers is The Hawley
Book
of the Dead, an ancient leather-bound journal holding
mysterious mythic power. As she pieces together the truth
behind the book, Reve will have to shield herself and her
daughters against an uncertain, increasingly dangerous
fate.
For soon it becomes clear that the stranger who upended
Reveβs life in Las Vegas has followed her to Hawleyβand
that
she has something he desperately wants.
Brimming with rich history, suspense, and magic, The
Hawley
Book of the Dead is a brilliantly imagined debut novel
from
a riveting new voice.
No excerpt available.
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