From the brain behind the upcoming Amazon Prime series, Haven, starring Sophie Turner.
'Chillingly gothic' - The Guardian, Best Crime and Thrillers of the Year
Inspired by the haunting true story of the Winchester Mystery House, Palace of Shadows is a hair-raising gothic thriller from the prize-winning author of the City Blues Quartet, Ray Celestin.
1899. The desolate Smugglers' Coast of North Yorkshire is a place that strikes fear into those who live nearby. Unexplained deaths, suicides, young girls gone missing on the nearby moors - the locals say it's the grand house that drives people mad.
Still, when Samuel Etherstone is contacted by its reclusive owner, Mrs Chesterfield, and commissioned to work on the property, he accepts the offer. For a penniless artist adrift in London, the opportunity is too tempting to ignore.
It is only on arrival at the Chesterfield house that he learns the sinister details of its architect's disappearance. Meanwhile, the widowed Mrs Chesterfield, keeps adding wing upon wing, and no one will tell him the reason behind her chilling obsession. But as Samuel delves deeper into the mysteries that swirl about the house the nature of the project becomes terrifyingly clear . . .
'Its jaw-dropping finale will leave readers reeling. An absolute triumph' - Sunday Express
'Darkly entertaining' - Laura Shepherd-Robinson, bestselling author of The Square of Sevens
'I could see elements of Wilkie Collins, Bram Stoker and even Lewis Carroll . . . Hugely entertaining' - Andrew Taylor, The Shadows of London
An outstanding historical novel for fans of The Essex Serpent and Piranesi, Ray Celestin's Palace of Shadows can lay claim to having at its centre the most Gothic House of them all . . . "I'm not asking you to build something impossible. I'm asking you to build something that contains all the strangeness and confusion that you can muster.? Samuel Etherstone, a penniless artist, is adrift in London. His disturbing art is shunned by patrons and critics alike, his friend Oscar Wilde is now an exile living in Paris, and a personal tragedy has taken its toll. So when he is contacted by a mysterious heiress, Mrs Chesterfield, and asked to work on a commission for the house she is building on the desolate Smugglers' Coast of North Yorkshire, he accepts the offer. Staying overnight in the local village pub, Samuel is warned not to spend too much time there. He is told of the fate of the house's original architect, Francisco Varano, chilling tales of folk driven mad by the house, of it being built on haunted land where young girls have vanished, their ghosts now calling others to their deaths... It is only on arrival at the Chesterfield house that he learns the sinister details of Varano's disappearance. And yet its owner keeps adding wing upon wing, and no one will tell him the reason behind her chilling obsession . . . But as Samuel delves deeper into the mysteries that swirl about the house, the nature of the project becomes terrifyingly clear.
