The shadow key A novel in four branches

In 1780s London, Doctor Henry Talbot is a greatly respected physician--until the day one of his patients dies on the operating table. Disgraced and dismissed from his position and unable to find work anywhere else, Talbot is forced to take a position in the Welsh countryside, serving the Tresilian family--Lord Julian, his mentally disturbed cousin Gwen, and Gwen's independent daughter Linette--and the local village. At first, Talbot finds himself welcomed by his eccentric employer and sets about trying to adjust to his new life. But learning the complexities of the Welsh language and navigating local myths and superstitions are the least of his challenges: far more troubling is the unrelenting hostility the locals harbor for all Englishmen and his growing suspicions that his predecessor met with foul play. Aided by Linette as well as the local vicar and Rowena, a beautiful herbalist, Talbot eventually uncovers a decades-long plot involving secret societies, alchemical texts, and demon summoning that could result in his own destruction. Recommend to those who enjoy atmospheric historical mysteries with an element of the uncanny.

Dismissed from the London hospital where he works, a young doctor reluctantly accepts a position as a private physician at the isolated and unwelcoming Welsh estate of Plas Helyg during the summer of 1783. When Henry Talbot first arrives at Lord Julian Tresilian's estate with little more than his doctor's bag and the clothes on his back, both the residents of Plas Helyg and Penhelyg, the neighboring mining village, are less than agreeable and, in some instances, downright aggressive toward him. While this behavior could easily be written off as cultural animosity between the Welsh and the English, Henry can't help but feel that there's something else amiss. With the gatehouse where he was meant to stay falling into irreparable shambles, the lady of the house struggling to maintain a tenuous grip on reality, and signs pointing toward his predecessor's death having been the result of foul play, Henry turns to Linette Tresilian, Julian's niece, for help. Linette quickly proves herself to be self-sufficient, stubborn, and thoroughly unconventional for an 18th-century woman. She prefers men's clothing, has little interest in marriage, keeps the books for the Plas Helyg estate, and spends much of her time looking after the men who toil in Julian's mines. At first unsure of what to make of one another, Henry and Linette quickly join forces to uncover the dark and dangerous truth that so many of Plas Helyg's residents have kept secret. Stokes-Chapman has crafted an engaging work of historical fiction that is a love letter to Welsh culture as well as a gripping and atmospheric mystery pitting scientific reason against the supernatural. A gripping and unsettling gothic novel steeped in Welsh history and folklore. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.