IDONEA

A Gothic tale that might have been.

Fourteen-year-old Idonea is the daughter of a noble house, but epilepsy has narrowed her prospects and her future is uncertain. On the eve of her brother’s marriage to her closest friend, a stranger arrives at the castle claiming to be a cousin. Others follow, and they are welcomed and treated as family.

Idonea alone fears them. As a mysterious illness spreads through the household, she discovers that the strangers have come in search of something buried beneath the castle, where the remnants of a pagan past have lain undisturbed for centuries. She finds herself in unlikely company: a nurse, chaplain, knight, and bell-mender—all of whom are aged—and a kennel boy. With their help, Idonea begins to uncover what the strangers have come for.

Then her closest friend goes missing. Idonea fears the worst, and the only hope of saving her and driving the strangers from the castle is a magical object that lies far beyond its walls. Idonea must journey alone to the place where her own troubles began, and there face the man she fears most.

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Presented as a modern translation of a lost manuscript, complete with a scholarly preface and notes, Idonea draws on medieval history and folklore, both real and imagined, and the traditions of the early Gothic novel.