Author(s): Amanda Hemingway

New Fantasy & Science Fiction

This is the second part of the captivating Sangreal trilogy from the author of Prospero's Children.

The albino Bartlemy Goodman is approximately 1500 years old; born in Byzantium during the decline of the Roman Empire he now resides in the village of Thornyhill, England with his dog, Hoover. Bartlemy is one of the Gifted. But long experience has taught him the perils of the power of the witch-kind and so throughout the ages has channelled his considerable talents into cooking, his culinary prowess becoming the stuff of legend: he worked for the Borgias, and was among the first to discover chocolate. When a young homeless woman holding a baby turns up on Bartlemy's doorstep, he senses destiny at work. The woman's name is Annie Ward and her son, Nathan, is an exceptional child as Annie cannot account for his conception. Soon Bartlemy comes to believe that the boy was created beyond the Gate of Death by a superior being for a special purpose - one that may threaten all of witch-kind - and that it is his job to protect him. Whilst Nathan grows, strange occurrences begin to plague the village.