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Winter 1994, and in the Wye Valley a story hidden for almost eight centuries has just been unearthed. For Nina, an ecologist working alongside local archaeologists, the discovery of a baby’s grave dating from the thirteenth century is of far more interest than just academic. Nina is mourning the loss of her own baby – a fact that seems not to have gone un-noticed by the spirits disturbed by the dig. And she is not alone in feeling an unusual affinity with the dig her boss Mark also senses strange presences there. Nina is drawn to Mark, but she is unsure of their relationship, and unable to communicate her feelings. Mark, meanwhile, is not a man given to clear expressions of affection and he too is mourning – mourning the failure of his engagement. As Mark and Nina continue to work on the Wye Valley site, their developing relationship has uncanny echoes of the past. The baby buried in the Wye Valley is the child of Gawyn, a headstrong Crusader knight who once travelled from France to Wales with a sacred secret; a secret that has lain dormant for hundreds of years. Until now...The baby’s mother, his wife Roese, followed a hugely challenging and at times death-defying path to find her home in the quiet Wye Valley. As Nina and Mark delve ever deeper into the past, they find out more of Gawyn's story, his travels across Europe and – perhaps most important of all – his encounter with a group of religious believers who held to their beliefs despite being mercilessly persecuted by the Crusaders. With their own story developing and sometimes mirroring that of Roese and Gawyn, will Nina and Mark find a spiritual home? Only time will tell…
The discovery of a thirteenth-century grave in the Wye Valley triggers a series of supernatural occurrences that force two grieving archaeologists to confront their own pasts. Nina, an ecologist struggling with the loss of her child, finds herself tethered to the site alongside her boss, Mark, who is navigating the wreckage of a failed engagement. As they excavate the remains of a Crusader knight's child, the boundary between their modern lives and the medieval history they uncover begins to blur. The narrative alternates between the contemporary excavation and the historical account of the knight Gawyn and his wife Roese, creating a dual-timeline structure that highlights the parallels between the two couples.
This novel presents a blend of historical drama and contemporary emotional exploration that relies heavily on the atmospheric tension of its setting. The narrative structure invites readers to draw comparisons between the medieval struggles of Gawyn and Roese and the modern-day professional and personal challenges faced by Nina and Mark. The prose emphasizes the weight of history and the lingering impact of unresolved grief on the present. By weaving together the technical details of an archaeological dig with the internal lives of its protagonists, the story suggests a thematic focus on finding spiritual resonance across time.
Page Count:
512
Publication Date:
1995-01-01
Publisher:
HarperCollins Publishers Canada, Limited
ISBN-10:
0002250144
ISBN-13:
9780002250146
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