Rachaela has never known her father – he was a taboo subject as far as her mother was concerned. All Rachaela’s mother had ever said was ‘Keep away from the Scarabae’, her father’s tribe. Were they bad people, or simply disapproving of the woman who’d born his child?
After her mother’s death, Rachaela realises she is being stalked by agents of the mysterious Scarabae family. They want to meet her. Despite her instincts to keep away from the Scarabae, she ultimately relents and is taken to the rambling, isolated house near the sea, where the Scarabae live in baroque seclusion. The inhabitants of the house are very old, and most are extremely eccentric, if not demented. And how many of them are there, exactly? The fading splendour of the house closes around Rachaela like a stifling womb, and she’s given no explanation for this ménage of bizarre oldsters, who are like creatures from an earlier age, and certainly not normal. Is there something supernatural to the Scarabae, or are they merely lost in delusion?
When Rachaela finally meets Adamus, a beautiful and apparently young man who claims to be her father, events take a darker turn. The Scarabae have a purpose for Rachaela – but this is nothing like she’d imagined. The family has been hounded across centuries and continents, until finally, the last of them, mostly weak and old, have ended up in this hidden corner of England, with only a reluctant, fearful ally to aid them. Rachaela must decide what to do – comply, or run while she still can. Her greatest fear is that she does not have a choice.
First published in 1992, and long out of print, Immanion Press is proud to release this new edition, which includes seven illustrations and an introductory essay by Storm Constantine.
