about the book
Seven stories across time; Blessed, a Scandinavian island and the only known place where the mysterious and beautiful Dracula dragon-shaped orchid grows. Two characters, always a version of Eric and Merle.
When we first meet Eric, he is an journalist traveling to Blessed in 2073, investigating the orchid. There he meets Merle, a beautiful and enchanting woman who seems to know him, but he doesn’t know how.
In our day, Eric is a brain-damaged teen who works to help in a new archaeological dig on the island, and Merle is his mother.
Further back, there is a painter who creates a very controversial painting—the “Midvinterblot.” Then a ghost comes into the story. And a vampire who was once a Viking warrior. And finally a very important Viking king.
Can love transcend relationships and time itself?
about the author
Marcus Sedgwick claims he had a normal happy childhood growing up in East Kent, England. But he slunk into his teen years as a spiky-haired goth, moved by melancholy music, graveyards, and dark fantasy themes. The dark fantasy thing still shows up in some of his award-winning books.
Marcus sold his first horror story to a fanzine when he was sixteen and started writing seriously in his twenties. Now, sixteen years later, he writes full-time in a lovely little shed in the garden at his home in Sussex, where he lives with his daughter, Alice. As Writer-in-Residence at Bath Spa University, he also teaches creative writing classes.
Besides being a writer, Marcus is an illustrator, wood engraver, and stone carver. In his spare time, he is the drummer known as Basil Exposition for an Austin Powers tribute band and acting troupe, the International Band of Mystery.
Check out www.marcussedgwick.com for a couple of free stories online.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Biography
Author interview: Strictly Writing
Also by Marcus Sedgwick:
She Is Not Invisible. Roaring Brook Press. 2014.
White Crow. Roaring Brook Press. 2011.
Revolver. Roaring Brook Press. 2010.
My Swordhand Is Singing. Wendy Lamb Books. 2006.
The Foreshadowing. Wendy Lamb Books. 2006.
The Dark Flight Down. Wendy Lamb Books. 2005.
The Book of Dead Days. Wendy Lamb Books. 2004.
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