Truly a spellbinder to whisk you away to the flourishing artsy era of Paris. This novel held your imagination and led you into the underworld of the arts, witchcraft, ancient religions, seduction, and courtesans. Sandrine will grab your sympathies for only a few chapters. The sympathies turn to anger as she allows La Lune to overtake her. La Lune is stronger than Sandrine realizes, but Sandrine cannot seem to put aside her quest for recognition in the artist world of Paris to see what evil is painting her heart black. The grandmother plays such a huge but small part at the same time in this story. The story of the grandmother ends to abruptly, she should of been giving more voice and fight toward the end against the evil that was overtaking their lives.

Cancel all appointments and get a pot of coffee brewing. This is a book that demands every minute of your time until the last page is turned. This is the first novel I've read of Paula Brackston's, but it will certainly not be my last. She paralled the lives of the two main characters in such a way that you were drawn to each one with the same emotion. Usually, I can only be really drawn into one character, but not in this novel. I found this novel to be in no way predictable. Everytime I thought I had it figured out, my theory was blown out of the water. I loved how the author wrote the novel so that you could visualize the lake in present day and immediately see it again with the village in Celtic times.

What a woman! To fight for her individuality like she did was truly inspirational. She was knocked down so many times and came back fighting harder than before. The author did a wonderful job by taking parts of her factual history and making a story that will keep you turning the pages without delay. I had to keep wondering to myself - would of I have been that strong to break out of the normal suppressed life of a woman in that era to live a life that would bring me peace and happiness. A story that was begun to bring a better life for her and her daughter edged more into breaking the rules of society as seen by her peers of that time.

I was really skeptical of this book at first. I normally read historical fiction. But, I do have to say from the first page I was hooked. Ursula Archer kept you guessing as to who was the master mind of the game. As soon as you thought you had it figured out, she threw another loop hole into the story. The story was very entrancing and I enjoyed how she wove the personal trials of the main character into the crimes she was researching. This story will not disappoint the reader.

This particular book had me riveted from chapter one. It was very difficult to put this book down after beginning the story. Anyone who has a passion for historical fiction would really enjoy this novel. The author did an incredible job of keeping the reader wanting more chapter by chapter. When starting the story, it took a whole other turn into suspense and intrigue that wasn't expected. I was expecting to learn more of Rose from chapter one, but the story moved on without her being a part of the suspense. I believe this book would be excellent for book club discussion. There are so many different areas of the story that could be discussed to get other's opinions on what they would of done in that particular circumstance. I loved the way the author brought the flood of 1910 into the story. It just added to the intrigue of what was going to happen. The way the author used the portrait descriptions as a lead in to the chapter kept your interest as to where the story was leading.