Barbara Erskine

Haunting tales from the shifting sands of time.A brilliant new collection of stories, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of HIDING FROM THE LIGHTA spine-tingling collection of stories from the bestselling author of Lady of Hay and Hiding from the Light.Sands of Time features two intriguing long stories that pick up the fortunes of characters from Whispers in the Sand, Barbara Erskine's captivating novel of Egypt. Still haunted by ancient mysteries, and the subject of dark intentions, Anna and Louisa must once more do battle with the past in order to survive the present.Here, too, are a host of other tales, all with a touch of the unexpected...A happily married woman has an affair – with a man who died in the First World War...Who is the little girl on the swing in the garden – and why does only Charlotte see her?And how can a traveller find herself transported suddenly from her airplane seat to the snowy Canadian wastes below?Suspense, romance, passion, unexpected echoes of the past – vintage Barbara Erskine, and storytelling at its most compelling.

Stunning repackage of the story of a woman trapped in the wrong time. Abandoned by her twentieth century lover, she plots a terrible revenge on him and his family.Adam Craig is fourteen when, near an isolated Celtic stone in the wild Scottish Highlands, he meets Brid, whose exotic, gypsy-like dress and strange attitudes fascinate him. They become friends, then, in time, passionate lovers. Brid leads him, unsuspecting, into the sixth century, where training as a Druid priestess she has mastered their ancient mysteries and powerful magic. In her obsession with Adam she is seen as a traitor by her people and only escapes death by following Adam through time to Edinburgh, where he goes to study medicine. As the years pass he makes new friends, and finds new love, causing Brid to be consumed by a violent rage that knows no bounds. For fifty years, from Scotland to England to Wales, Brid will haunt Adam like an evil shadow. It is finally Adam's granddaughter, Beth, who helps discover the secret that will free them from the terror of Brid's curse.

A woman unexpectedly inherits a beautiful English manor from the mother she never knew--a place where her two young brothers died many years ago. The locals whisper of a dire curse on both the house and her family, as eerie, inexplicable occurrences begin to threaten her own two sons. Now she is completely on her own to face a centuries-old malevolence--with the lives of those she holds dear hanging in the balance! When Joss, an adopted child, discovers that her real mother has left the beautiful family home, Belheddon Hall, to her, she is thrilled, until she discovers that the Hall is haunted by a presence which will not tolerate husbands or sons living in the house.Joss Grant is eager to begin a new life when she inherits Belheddon Hall. She brings her husband, Luke, and their small son, Tom, to the dilapidated house, and sets about discovering her family roots which lie in the village.But not long after they move in, Tom wakes screaming at night. Joss hears echoing voices and senses an invisible presence, watching her from the shadows. Are they spirits from the past? Or is she imagining them? As she learns, with mounting horror, of Belheddon's tragic and dramatic history, her fear grows very real, for she realises that both her family and her own sanity are at the mercy of a violent and powerful energy which seems beyond anyone's control.

Love, courage, tragedy and ghosts.

"Joanna Clifford, a tough and independent reporter, is all set to debunk the idea of past-life regression in her next magazine series. But when she submits herself to a simple hypnotic session, she suddenly finds herself transported to the 12th century, reliving the experiences of Matilda, Lady of Hay, the wife of a baron at the time of King John."--Back cover.

The powerful new timeslip novel from the worldwide bestselling author of Lady in Hay, in which the fate of a young woman becomes entwined with the extraordinary history of a Celtic princess.Jess, a young teacher in London, is attacked by someone she fears knows her well. Fleeing to her sister’s house in the Welsh borders to recuperate, she is disturbed by the cries of a mysterious child.Two thousand years before, the same valley is the site of a great battle between Caractacus, king of the mighty Catuvellauni tribe, and the invading Romans. The proud king is captured and taken as a prisoner to Rome with his wife and daughter, the princess Eigon.Jess is inexorably drawn to investigate Eigon’s story, and as the Welsh cottage is no longer a peaceful sanctuary she determines to visit Rome. There lie the connections that will reveal Eigon’s astonishing life - and which threaten to reawaken Jess’s own tormentor.Barbara Erskine’s ability to weave together the past and the present, shedding light on a real but little-known figure, makes this a tremendous novel of Roman and Celtic history, passion and intrigue.

The sweeping new novel from the bestselling author of 'Hiding From the Light' and 'Whispers in the Sand' switches between Roman Britain and the present day where history dramatically impacts on the lives of three women.Two thousand years ago, as the Romans invade Britannia, the princess who will become the powerful queen of the great tribe of the Brigantes, watches the enemies of her people come ever closer. Cartimandua's world is, from the start, a maelstrom of love and conflict; revenge and retribution. In the present day, Edinburgh-based historian, Viv Lloyd Rees, has immersed herself in the legends surrounding the Celtic queen. She has written a book and is working on a dramatisation of the young queen's life with the help of actress, Pat Hebden. Cartimandua's life takes one unexpected turn after another as tragedy changes the course of her future. But the young queen has formidable enemies – among them Venutios, her childhood sparring partner, and Medb, a woman whose jealousy threatens not only her happiness but her life. Viv's Head of Department, Hugh Graham, hounds her as she struggles to hide her visions of Cartimandua and her conviction that they are real. Her obsession grows ever more persistent and threatening as she takes possession of an ancient brooch that carries a curse. Both Pat and Hugh are drawn into this dual existence of bitter rivalry and overwhelming love as past envelopes present and the trio find themselves facing the greatest danger of their lives.

On the banks of the River Deben in Suffolk lies a set of barns dating back to the Anglo Saxons, within their walls secrets have laid buried for centuries. Zoe and Ken have just moved into one of the barns, ready to start a new life away from the hustle and bustle of the city. To the outside world they seem like an ordinary couple, but underneath they are growing more distant by the day. And when Zoe becomes close to local recluse, Leo, she finds her attraction to him undeniable. Whilst farmers are ploughing the land surrounding the barns, sets of human bones are found and when the police arrive it becomes clear that the bones are much older than first suspected ... From an ancient burial ground to a Victorian murder, Erskine will have you gripped as the mystery unfolds across the ages.

When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won't find the killer. After all, the year before her father's body was found with his heart missing, and since then everyone has moved on. Even her best friend, Miranda, has become more interested in boys than in spending time at the old ghost tree, the way they used to when they were kids. So when Lauren has a vision of a monster dragging the remains of the girls through the woods, she knows she can't just do nothing. Not like the rest of her town. But as she draws closer to answers, she realizes that the foundation of her seemingly normal town might be rotten at the center. And that if nobody else stands for the missing, she will.

Stunning repackage of a gripping tale of witchcraft and romance, past and present, as modern-day characters are caught up in a battle that has been raging for hundreds of years.Across the peninsula the mist rolled in, its icy fingers curling up the cliffs. Inside their houses people stirred in their sleep and children cried in the dark.The parish of Manningtree and Mistley has a dark history. In 1644, with England in the grip of a Puritan government, Matthew Hopkins, Cromwell's Witchfinder General, tortured scores of women there, including Liza, the herbalist, whose cottage still stands in Mistley, and Sarah Paxman, the daughter of the manor. And today the spirits of Hopkins and his victims haunt the old shop in the High Street, they say.Emma Dickson has given up her high-flying career to live in Liza's cottage, but now she is being driven half-mad by visions of the past; of Sarah's battle to save herself and Liza from the Witchfinder. In despair, Emma turns to the local rector for help, but he, too, is in the grip of something inexplicable – something which threatens Emma. And, as the feast of Halloween approaches, Emma is caught up in a struggle that has been raging for centuries, as old enemies reach out across the years for their revenge. Can she stop the forces unleashed from the past wreaking their devastation in the present?

"Abi Rutherford has walked out of her job, disturbed by the erratic behaviour of her boss. Kieran Scott's behaviour seems even stranger because he is rector of St John's, a Cambridgeshire parish. Something going on there has disturbed him deeply. Centuries ago, a stranger came to the fenlands of western England with a story that would bring hope to the downtrodden. But following him were oppressive forces determined that no gentle-eyed healer should undermine the unity of Roman rule. The stranger says he's come to save people. But he may be the one in need of rescuing. What connection is there between these events and Abi and Kieran? Are these ancient echoes to be feared, or could they provide the answer to a long-silenced secret?"--Page 4 of cover.