The Memory of Midnight

Description

One hot day in Elizabethan York, young Nell Appleby is trapped in a wooden chest, and a horror of the stifling dark - and of the man who trapped her - dogs her for the rest of her life. Wed to the sadistic Ralph Maskewe, Nell must find joy where she can, until the return of her childhood sweetheart offers a chance of flight to the New World. Will Nell risk all to escape the dark at last? Four and a half centuries later, Tess and her small son Oscar move to York. Eager to start a new life, away from her overbearing and manipulative husband, Martin, Tess tries to put her marriage behind her. But time in York has a way of shifting strangely, and memories of a past that is not her own begin to surface with disturbing effect. Living two lives, torn between two worlds, Tess must unlock the secrets of the past before she can free herself - and Nell - once and for all.

After an earlier career spent working and travelling around the world, including stints as cook on an outback cattle station, interpreter on expedition in Cameroon and English teacher in Jakarta, Pamela stumbled into writing as a way of funding a PhD in Medieval Studies.Settling at last in York, for several years she combined academic research with a successful career as a romance writer. Her thesis on the streets of later medieval and early modern York was finally completed in 2004 and she continues to work (very slowly) on a scholarly edition of the Wardmote court records that formed the basis of her research. The Memory of Midnight is her second novel based on her study of Elizabethan York and written under her real name. For more about Pamela, please see her website www.pamelahartshorne.com, find her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @PamHartshorne.

What a terrific novel. I really enjoyed it and became deeply involved in the lives of the two heroines. * Elizabeth Buchan * A rattling good read. * York Press * A very enjoyable read and the story is intriguing from the beginning as you engage with both the characters, leaving you wanting to read more. I find that Pamela's knowledge of 16th Century York fascinating and the historical detail is very interesting and compliments the story perfectly. * Yorkshire Times *