Overview
A novel for anyone who's ever believed that two people are destined for each other, that passion has no end, and that true love never dies...
It was an accidental detour inspired by one of Gally's frequent panic attacks that sent her husband, Mike, down a twisting lane to the abandoned country cottage. From the moment she saw it, Gally felt a peace she hadn't known in years and the inexplicable sense that she had finally come home. As her husband works at their new home's restoration, Gally finds herself growing unexpectedly close to an eighty-three-year-old man named Ferney. How could she become so attached to a virtual stranger? And why does Ferney seem to know her better than she knows herself? Through Ferney's old stories Gally finds herself transported to a distant past where two lovers made a vow even death could not break. Soon Gally will face a life-and-death dilemma that has followed her and Ferney down through the centuries. It will be a moment of decision that will forever change not only their lives but the lives of all they touch.
Synopsis
A novel for anyone who's ever believed that two people are destined for each other, that passion has no end, and that true love never dies...
It was an accidental detour inspired by one of Gally's frequent panic attacks that sent her husband, Mike, down a twisting lane to the abandoned country cottage. From the moment she saw it, Gally felt a peace she hadn't known in years and the inexplicable sense that she had finally come home. As her husband works at their new home's restoration, Gally finds herself growing unexpectedly close to an eighty-three-year-old man named Ferney. How could she become so attached to a virtual stranger? And why does Ferney seem to know her better than she knows herself? Through Ferney's old stories Gally finds herself transported to a distant past where two lovers made a vow even death could not break. Soon Gally will face a life-and-death dilemma that has followed her and Ferney down through the centuries. It will be a moment of decision that will forever change not only their lives but the lives of all they touch.
Publishers Weekly
The nature of the self, the ownership of history, the endurance of love--these are some of the themes touched upon in Long's engrossing if somewhat disturbing tale of lovers separated by history. Mike Martin, a lecturer in history in London, and his young wife, Gabriela (Gally), are searching for the English country cottage that Mike hopes will assuage both his wife's sorrow from her miscarriage and the midnight terrors she suffers, nightmares apparently brought on by witnessing her father's death when she was a child. The intuitive and sometimes impulsive Gally is unaccountably attracted to a stone house in complete disrepair, and her rational and deductive husband buys it for her, despite his reservations. Mike and Gally move into an old trailer and begin renovating the cottage, and they conceive a child the first night they spend on their property. The cottage is in Penselwood, a village at a crossroads in British history, and Mike's ideas about historical facts are challenged immediately when he and his wife meet Ferney Miller, an 83-year-old man who insists that the people of Penselwood retain "folk memories" that are truer than written documentation. When Mike decides to write a book about the changes wrought by innovations in farm implements, Ferney persuasively argues that the real innovation was the domestication of the horse, but he can't offer Mike any proof to confirm the notion. As it turns out, Ferney and Gally have other reasons to believe they understand history better than Mike, and despite the vast differences in Gally's and Ferney's ages, their deepening friendship threatens the Martins' marriage. Just how Ferney and Gally are related becomes clear midway through the book, but the puzzle of Gally's recurring nightmares and the mysteries of Ferney's life--the unexplained disappearance of his wife 57 years earlier and the motive behind the murder of a blacksmith--are not revealed until the final surprising pages. The highlights of the novel are Long's forays into history, as he makes imaginative use of time travel to bring his characters to life in different eras of British history. While the ending is somewhat disquieting, and Long's prose is merely workaday, the unfolding mystery and the clever handling of the complex plot make for a provocative tale. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
The nature of the self, the ownership of history, the endurance of love--these are some of the themes touched upon in Long's engrossing if somewhat disturbing tale of lovers separated by history. Mike Martin, a lecturer in history in London, and his young wife, Gabriela (Gally), are searching for the English country cottage that Mike hopes will assuage both his wife's sorrow from her miscarriage and the midnight terrors she suffers, nightmares apparently brought on by witnessing her father's death when she was a child. The intuitive and sometimes impulsive Gally is unaccountably attracted to a stone house in complete disrepair, and her rational and deductive husband buys it for her, despite his reservations. Mike and Gally move into an old trailer and begin renovating the cottage, and they conceive a child the first night they spend on their property. The cottage is in Penselwood, a village at a crossroads in British history, and Mike's ideas about historical facts are challenged immediately when he and his wife meet Ferney Miller, an 83-year-old man who insists that the people of Penselwood retain "folk memories" that are truer than written documentation. When Mike decides to write a book about the changes wrought by innovations in farm implements, Ferney persuasively argues that the real innovation was the domestication of the horse, but he can't offer Mike any proof to confirm the notion. As it turns out, Ferney and Gally have other reasons to believe they understand history better than Mike, and despite the vast differences in Gally's and Ferney's ages, their deepening friendship threatens the Martins' marriage. Just how Ferney and Gally are related becomes clear midway through the book, but the puzzle of Gally's recurring nightmares and the mysteries of Ferney's life--the unexplained disappearance of his wife 57 years earlier and the motive behind the murder of a blacksmith--are not revealed until the final surprising pages. The highlights of the novel are Long's forays into history, as he makes imaginative use of time travel to bring his characters to life in different eras of British history. While the ending is somewhat disquieting, and Long's prose is merely workaday, the unfolding mystery and the clever handling of the complex plot make for a provocative tale. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Kathe Robin
The lyrical prose makes this a tender and bittersweet tale of reincarnations and the power of love. Ferney can truly lift the spirits. Readers will feel hopeful that those they love will somehow, some way find one another.— Romantic Times
Don D'Ammassa
If you need a break from two fisted adventure, dueling sorcerers, magical quests, dragons and elves and the other accoutrements of modern fantasy, here's a low key, brilliantly written, and quietly satisfying contemporary tale.—Science Fiction Chronicle