Shadow On The Wall

In the countryside of Victorian England, Edward Atherton, rector of Thornham St. Stephen, has taken on the arduous task of restoring the ancient church. But he should never have meddled with the tomb that lay beneath the church's crumbling walls. The moment the workman raised the tomb lid, an unspeakable horror escaped. At a loss to explain the unsettling noises and frightening visions that begin to plague the church, Atherton calls upon fellow antiquarian and Cambridge professor Richard Asquith to help investigate the strange events that began in the wake of the tomb's disturbance.The two discover tantalizing hints of whom and what may have been laid to rest in the tomb, but the unforeseen circumstances force Asquith to give up his inquiries and leave the small village of Thornham behind. Asquith tries to put the frightening experiences behind him and focus on his new wife and family. But death and disappearances abound, and Asquith soon has no choice but to confront the darkness that has followed him from that ancient church into his own home.Praise for Jonathan Aycliffe:'Aycliffe has a fine touch' Independent'Aycliffe conjures up a feeling of dread that deepens with each unsettling incident' Time Out'Naomi's Room must rank among the finest of English ghost stories . . . They certainly don't come more dark or fearsome.' Newcastle Evening Chronicle

From Kirkus Reviews

Matthew Atherton, son of the late Bishop of Ely and a 19th-century academic of prodigious knowledge and reputation, has a problem for antiquarian Richard Asquith, a Cambridge professor: Can Richard can help his brother Edward, rector of the church at nearby Thornham St Stephen, who has been plagued by strange noises and frightening visions ever since he began to restore the church's ancient tomb of William de Lindesey? Richard is sympathetic but not much help. He's more concerned with the living than the dead--especially when the living come to include Simone, widowed daughter of his old friend René and mother to young Bertrand, whom he courts and marries. Returning to England with his new family, Richard finds both Edward Atherton and his mother dead and buried at Thornham St Stephen, leaving those around them haunted by dark shadows. And now Richard's own house is full of frightening sounds and visions. The plague is everywhere, and Matthew Atherton has disappeared. When Simone and Bertrand fall deathly ill, Richard resolves to seek out the source of evil in the de Lindesey tomb and, at great risk succeeds.Aycliffe (a.k.a. Daniel Easterman) knows how to persuade his readers to suspend common sense and enjoy another of his gracefully written fantasies (The Lost, 1996, etc.). -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Aycliffe was born in Belfast in 1949. He studied English, Persian, Arabic and Islamic studies at the universities of Dublin, Edinburgh and Cambridge, and Morocco and Newcastle upon Tyne. He lives in the north of England with his wife.

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