Time of the Wolf

by Elizabeth Harris

The evil had lasted two thousand years…and only love could break its spell. Henry and Thea felt an almost supernatural attachment to the Fens of East Anglia and to the woman who guided them there - Florence, Henry’s grandmother. The two were fascinated by her stories of Dark-Ages passions, murder and betrayal. They knew that through her stories, Florence was trying to tell them something else, and that her interest in their growing love for each other seemed to have another dimension… Unknown to them, their passion had an extraordinary power — one that could awaken the ghosts of an evil that has survived the passing of the centuries. Tormented by visions of the past, knowing the future was not theirs, Henry and Thea are thrown back to the Dark-Age world of The House of the Wolf and a destiny from which only one person can save them … Praise for Elizabeth Harris '[Harris] writes these gorgeous books in modern day style, producing intense and beautiful tales of ancient charm' - Bangor Chronicle 'A worthy heir to Ellis Peters, though grittier, materialises' – Poison in the Pen 'Proof that a writer of medieval crime fiction can deliver something fresh' – The Times Elizabeth Harris was born in Cambridge and brought up in Kent, where she now lives. After graduation she did a variety of jobs including driving a van, being a lifeguard and working in the Civil Service. She has travelled extensively in Europe and America, and lived for some years in the Far East. Elizabeth Harris was one of the finalists of the 1989 Ian St James Awards. She is an acclaimed writer with many novels to her name. In The Quiet Earth, she deftly weaves the challenges and questions of modern life into those of the distant past, to deliver a story brimming with intrigue, history and romance. She is also the author of The Herb Gatherers.

Genres: Fiction

375 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

Also writes as Alys Clare.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Bonnye Reed]

MyNextRead

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about ancestry, reincarnation and destiny. I found the engineering of lives by Florence quite weird and uncomfortable though.

Also, the empire lifestyle of Henry's parents and his dislike of a Chinese character were rather dated and made me squirm.

[Suzie Groers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fourth book I have read by Elizabeth Harris and it may well turn out to be my favourite. The story of Henry, who at the beginning of the story is a small boy living with his parents in Hong Kong. All Henry wants to do is return to England and live with his grandmother, Florence, in East Anglia. After a well thought out campaign Henry gets his wish and is eventually dispatched back to England.
Once there Henry meets a young girl, Thea, who has been looking after his dog in his absence, but once Henry has his dog back he is haunted by the sadness of Thea, and eventually gives the dog back to her permanently. From there Thea leaves East Anglia and goes to live with her father. But Henry and Thea's lives are being guided by Florence, who goes out of her way to bring the two together as they grow older. She believes that their relationship is a reincarnation from an ancient story of the dark ages and she manipulates to get them together.
This was a very enjoyable story with plenty of rich historic details spanning the mid 1960's and right back to the dark ages. There is menace from the dark man who appears in Thea's life and in her trance like dreams of the past, but also humour within the thoughts of the two main characters. All in all a very enjoyable read with plenty of historical and mystical details.
Thanks to Endeavour Press and NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

[Gime Peña · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, it was a nice summer read. The beginning was brilliant: it was intriguing, fantastic and well written. The characters were lovable since the first encounter and the mystery kept me on the edge.

However, I felt a little disappointed. I was so thrilled with the plot in the beginning that was expecting a much complex resolving of the main conflict.

[Josephine (Jo) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished 23rd December
Not a bad story but too similar to The Herb Gatherers which I read earlier in the year, same sort of plot with different characters.

[Carol]

We are about to start reading this at our weekly book group meetings. Further comments will be made once we have finished reading this.