Publisher's Synopsis
Her son, Jim, apparently died in an accident. Ruth St Just is doubtful. She might not have understood why he joined a religious community on the tiny African island of Ellamore, or even why he had gone abroad in the first place, but the manner of his death doesn't ring true. The Foreign Office are unconcerned however. No matter how much this obsessive woman badgers them, investigations go no further. Frustrated, Ruth takes matters into her own hands. She sets off on a personal mission to Africa., determined to expose the sordid truth behind the sinister sect and the mysterious, charismatic woman who reigns over it, and to uncover among her bizarre band of misfits and eccentrics, the disturbing circumstances that led to the death of her son. 'A Gothic creation of power and brilliance, full of bizarre episodes that crash the weird and the ordinary against each other.' Observer 'Essential reading - this novel will resonate in the mind for a long time to come.' Financial Times 'Francis King, one of the finest contemporary novelists, is prolific, fluent, judicious and moving. He leads us through the novel as an initiate would lead us through a maze.' Melvyn Bragg
