Review: Spellbinding and Utterly "Be-Witching"
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 30, 2013
The author weaves a spellbinding and utterly be-witching tale of a young girl caught up in a magical yet dangerous world. Alyne de Winter, author of several other gothic tales,The Lady in YellowandRoses, Briars and Blood: A Gothic Re-telling of Sleeping Beauty: Revised Edition (Gothic Faery Tales)has taken us back in time to a world of a moonlit, rose-covered castle, Turks, lords, ladies, brave warriors, gods, gypsies, spells, superstitions and witchcraft.As I read and became totally immersed in the story of our heroine, Mara, I also felt acute pain for her and her dismal surroundings. It is hard to imagine how such a young girl could survive the daily frightening experiences here. Mara is sensitive, and only nine years old with terrible, ongoing nightmares brought about by the horrible sounds and cries in the night that echo through the walls of Castle Szeppasszony. At age 16, Mara is moved into the Countess's wing of the castle, only to uncover the source of her nightmares and her mother's terrible secrets. She experiences extreme loneliness, pain and horror. It seems that the weird happenings inside the Castle Szeppasszony and the Trefoil Tower will never come to an end.This book will take you on a journey of your imagination that you will not soon forget. You will also experience all that this young girl lived through in this dark, dank castle of secrets in the mountains of 17th Century Hungary. Mara also has her own secrets, and we will soon discover right along with her, the truth as she peels back the layers of her past in this wildly engaging tale.