In 1770 parson Obadiah Demurral, inhabits the old vicarage just outside the Bagtown village, near the fishing town of Whitby on the east coast of England. This fast and furious tale has things that lurk in the woods, creatures from other worlds, pirates, smugglers, excise men and soldiers, breathless chases, and exciting swords and sorcery. If you like Harry Potter stories, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Alan Garner, or even Charles Williams and Frank Peretti, you will enjoy this tall and wild tale.
Parson Demurral ministers to the local people in his own special way, his spellbinding sermons having a magic all of their own. The simple superstitious folk know he is not a man to be trifled with: not just a hard landlord and strict collector of rents and tithes, but they know that even the frits and hobgoblins that live in the woods fear him too. His vaulting ambition is to gain the ancient talisman of power which was used to create this world long ago, and which has been kept safe from harm in Africa. Demurral can already call up alien warriors to serve him, and he plans to be master of this world, and perhaps others.
But the talisman, or Keruvim, is one of a pair, which work together, and they cannot be separated for long as they need each other. Although he has managed to buy the one half with gold, the other he must call by his art to reunite the pair. But he discovers that the other half is not a mere magic thing, it has a will of its own, and there are other forces piled up against him, as he has made many enemies in his career. All the little people he has stepped on as he made his way to the top may seem powerless, but they may yet prove his undoing as many little trips may make a great fall.
This report prepared by Michael JR Jose
