Candlenight

'Corpse-candles, phantom funerals. The knocking, the moaning, the bird of death. It was insidious...'

For Bethan, the schoolteacher, the old superstitions woven into the social fabric of her West Wales village are primitive and distasteful. Which is why she's pleased to welcome the sophisticated newcomers: London journalist Giles Freeman and his wife Claire. Surely they'll let in some fresh air?

But the Freemans are keen to absorb this different culture, a whole new way of life - rejecting the advice of an old colleague who warns them of a hard and bitter land where they've always danced on the edge of the abyss. 'We're really not meant to be there, you know, the English...'

'Grimly sinister... written with blood-curdling aplomb.' Sunday Telegraph

'Authentic shudders... some wonderful touches of the bizarre.' Evening Standard

'A brooding first novel... credibly fuses Celtic myth with contemporary Welsh politics.' The Sunday Times

'No shortage of excitement.' Ruth Rendell

'From the moment it arrived in the post, I was hooked... highly readable... and fascinating.' Daily Telegraph

'I couldn't put it down. Spookily sinister, pacy and beautifully descriptive.' Barbara Erskine