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Artist Charlotte Knight is commissioned to sketch a series of illustrations for a forthcoming edition of Rilke’s poems. Presiding over the project is Jaa Morland, an elderly woman with a spooky manner who lives at the Draakensky estate. Assuming that this will be an ordinary professional venture, Charlotte pursues her assignment with diligence. But there are dark forces at work, and before long, she’s drawn into the mystery of Heida Mead’s death. Heida was found dead in a nearby river, but there are whispers that she survives in the Otherworld. Assisting Charlotte is Marc Sexton, a roguishly handsome villager with an impressive knowledge of various kinds of magick. But as their relationship becomes increasingly passionate, Charlotte begins to fear that Marc may have played a role in Heida’s disappearance.
Cappa is a skilled craftsman. The story advances at a smooth pace, unburdened by any of the wince-inducing moments that bedevil so many other fantasy stories involving sex and magic. The chemistry between Charlotte and Marc feels authentic because the descriptions of their occasional sexual ventures display a greater concern for character development than titillation. Scattered references to Tennyson, Gustave Doré, and some of the lesser-known corners of Arthurian myth provide a pleasurable veneer of culture that grounds the more dramatic elements. Dialogue and events that, in less capable hands, might have been overwrought here seem perfectly plausible. This is a sturdy, old-fashioned Gothic thriller, thoroughly charming in its atmosphere and invention and anchored by a fully dimensional heroine in the vein of Mrs. de Winter or Jane Eyre.