Beyond The Grave

Description

'Compulsory reading' Independent 'Superb' Observer The mysterious, enigmatic Seraphin Monge, having avenged the horrific murder of his family, has vanished as abruptly as he appeared. His brief sojourn in the village of his birth has touched the lives of the villagers, and he is much mourned by the women who claim to have been in love with him. But is Seraphin dead or alive? If so, how to explain the ghostly visions and declared sightings of him, the powerfully vivid memories or the miraculous events for which he is seemingly responsible? Dead, if that is what he is, Seraphin appears to be infinitely more present that he was in his lifetime. Ranging over half a century, this is a self-contained sequel to the author's prize-winning novel, The Murdered House.

Pierre Magnan was born in Manosque in 1922 and has rarely left his native Provence. In 1943, during the Occupation, he fought with the Resistance in the Isere, and in 1946 he published his first novel, L'Aube Insolite. During his lifetime he published over twenty novels, four of which have so far been translated into English. He died in May 2012, at the age of 89.

This is an extraordinary novel by an extraordinary writer- his writing is hard, lucid, muscular, his characters of mythic proportions * Scotsman * Once again Magnan captures beautifully the feel of Provence, with its sunbaked landscapes, its mysteries and its edge of danger. Superb * Observer * The master of Provencal Gothic * Independent *