Synopses & Reviews
Alone among the young girls taught by nuns at a convent school in nineteenth-century France, orphaned Herculine has neither wealth nor social connections. When she's accused of being a witch, the shy student is locked up with no hope of escape...until her rescue by a real witch, the beautiful, mysterious Sebastiana. Swept away to the witch's manor, Herculine will enter a fantastic, erotic world to discover her true nature and her destiny in this breathtaking, darkly sensual first novel.
Review
"Though loosely episodic, the novel achieves a historical sweep that distinguishes Reese as a star pupil in the Anne Rice school of dark sensuality." Publishers Weekly
Review
"It's marvelous to have one so eloquent exploring and transcending the gothic genre." Anne Rice
Review
"Debut supernatural vampire/witch superdrama whose lesson seems to be that sex is better when (1) it's a sin, (2) it hurts, and (3) it involves barely adolescent girls....More often than not, the author seems to be performing self-therapy on his own fixation with lesbian witches....Harry Potter for oversexed Wiccafreaks." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Meticulously crafted and thoroughly enchanting....A work of imaginative wizardry." Orlando Sentinel
Review
"The Book of Shadows is as alluring and bizarre as its brilliantly realized characters, who are supported by James Reese's wonderfully arcane historical research and his true gift for the macabre. A novelist of immense talent and promise, and a story that seeps into the mind like a potion." Caleb Carr, author of The Alienist
Review
"This novel shows potential that is, alas, unrealized. A confusing setting and plot are complicated by Reese's insistence on developing minor characters at the expense of his protagonist. Lengthy tangential chapters serve only to muddy the waters further." Library Journal
About the Author
James Reese was born on eastern Long Island. He attended the University of Notre Dame and the State University of NY at Stony Brook, where he received an MA in Theatre. As an undergraduate, he had a play staged off-Broadway at the Actors Repertory Theatre. While living in New York, New Orleans and Key West, Reese held various jobs in the non-profit sector, working on behalf of the arts and the environment. He has also lived and traveled extensively in France. Presently, he lives in South Florida, where he is working full-time on the sequel to The Book of Shadows.