A brother and sister, two halves of an extraordinary whole, engage in an epic struggle, set against a dramatic backdrop of revolution, fire and plague.

On the eve of the English Civil War, twins Dora and Uriel are conceived in most mysterious circumstances.

Uriel grows up ruthless, ambitious, and with a strong belief in the occult and his own messianic destiny. Dora is kind but with a backbone of steel, a woman whose creative talents flourish against the odds.

As they grow to adulthood, they find themselves caught up in the pursuit of a magical stone said to enable communication with angels. Uriel, assisted in this enterprise by the sinister Lestrange family, works his way into Charles II's court, while Dora must draw upon her inner strength to frustrate them.

In the year of the beast, 1666, the stone's dark secret - and the twins' true natures - are finally revealed.

A tale of light and dark, of good and evil, of the Puritan repression and Restoration licentiousness, and of Milton's world where demons and angels struggle for supremacy. This is a remarkable fantasia by the beloved author of Rotherweird.

PRAISE FOR ANDREW CALDECOTT:

'Intricate and crisp, witty and solemn: a book not unlike other books, but with special and dangerous properties. Line by line, silent and adroit, it opens a series of trap-doors in the reader's imagination' HILARY MANTEL, two-time Booker Prize winner

'An imaginative tour de force' THE TIMES

'Baroque, Byzantine and beautiful - not to mention bold. An enthralling puzzle picture of a book' M. R. CAREY, author of The Girl With All the Gifts

'Compelling . . . the love child of Gormenghast and Hogwarts' GUARDIAN

'Precisely calibrated . . . The stakes could not be higher' DAILY MAIL

Andrew Caldecott