Prospero's Mirror

'What is read cannot be unread.' Oxford, 1935. An exhausted nation is recovering from one Great War...and girding itself for the next one. MR James, Britain's greatest writer of ghost stories, is summoned by the Warden of Old College to examine an ancient stone mirror. But he soon finds himself drawn into a dark maze of secrets, including one from his own guilty past. Oxford 1665. At a time when established orthodoxies are being challenged by the new science, Warden Woodward of Old College acquired the same mirror. He soon suspects conspiracy and witchcraft in a city besieged by plague. Assailed by devastating visitors, caught between fears of an ancient curse and the World Wars of the future, two men from different centuries are forced to delve into a dreadful secret and confront their own demons. But is self-reflection the most dangerous thing of all? Prospero's Mirror is a brilliantly imaginative novel that brings MR James, the master of the horror story, vividly to life in a story as dark and gripping as any of his own creations. It includes free stories by MR James and Edgar Allen Poe. >h2> Praise for A. N. Donaldson 'Necromancy, witchcraft and gruesome goings on among the dreaming spires. This historically based, well researched and beautifully written blood chiller will have you looking over your shoulder for nameless horrors.' - Stella Rimington, former Director-General of MI5, and best-selling author of 'The Geneva Trap'. “Alasdair Donaldson has written a splendidly spooky first novel, vividly combining the horrors of plague-ridden 17th century Oxford with mysterious goings on in the wintry city in the inter-war years.” - Frances Cairncross, Principal of Exeter College, Oxford. A. N. Donaldson studied Philosophy and Economics at Oxford, before working as a barrister in Lincoln's Inn and the City of London.

About the Author

A. N. Donaldson studied Philosophy and Economics at New College, Oxford, before working as a barrister in Lincoln's Inn and the City of London. Visit his website at www.andonaldson.co.uk

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