This is a funny, violent book - but it is also a Morality. Geoffrey Glass, a man with a terrible secret, comes to Petroc, a village in the West Country. There is a 'plague of witches' - madness by possession - that begins to rage shortly after he has arrived. Glass' secret gives him a strange power of control over these witches, and with its aid he founds a new shamanistic religion which spreads worldwide. However, Glass' secret is a stumbling-block to his friends and a provocation to his enemies, who force him to reveal it in a climax which is both weird and moving. Peter Redgrove wrote this story of horror and the occult in the belief that in going all out for a total experience - in going rather further than such stories normally do - he would draw attention to the real themes that are merely undercurrents in most modern stories of the supernatural. There is a strong factual basis for this remarkable fiction that makes it in no way less entertaining, but considerably more horrifying. The book also contains an introduction by Jay Ramsay. 'It is the sheer exuberance which is refreshing, the sense of a writer luxuriating in language, releasing a torrent of coruscating imagery.'(TLS) 'Whatever Peter Redgrove writers is always compelling reading.' (Books and Bookmen) Peter Redgrove (1932-2003) worked in several interlinked fields: as a poet, novelist, playwright, and in psychological practice. He believed creative, psychological and scientific work are aspects of the same common study, and his insights are profound, illuminating and constantly exciting. He received many awards during his life and was especially honoured by receiving the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1996.
