Anchoress of Shere

Book excerpt: "This engrossing, subtle historical centers on a spiritual quest into Christian mysticism and smoothly alternates between past and present."—Publishers Weekly STARRED review Set in two different centuries, Anchoress of Shere depicts the story of a beautiful young woman, Christine Carpenter, who chooses to be walled up alive in a church in the English town of Shere. The historical records, which still exist, put the date at 1329. The 20th century chronicler of her story is Father Michael Duval, a deranged Catholic priest. Gradually, two separate sagas unfold: the bizarre world of the Middle Ages centered on Christine's entombment, and the 1967 abduction of Marda Stewart in nearby Guildford. Soon the medieval world of knights, debauchery, peasant uprisings and civil war merges into a modern hunt for a serial killer. The final piece of the puzzle is discovered in the late 1990s, revealing a gripping adventure story of love so obsessive that it spans more than six hundred years.