Synopses & Reviews
Ilse Zhalina is the daughter of one of Melneks more prominent merchants. She has lived most of her life surrounded by the trappings of wealth and privilege. Many would consider hers a happy lot. But there are dark secrets, especially in the best of families. Ilse has learned that for a young woman of her beauty and social station, to be passive and silent is the best way to survive.
When Ilse finally meets the older man she is to marry, she realizes he is far crueler and more deadly than her father could ever be. Ilse chooses to run. This choice will change her life forever.
And it will lead her to Raul Kosenmark, master of one of the lands most notorious pleasure houses…and who is, as Ilse discovers, a puppetmaster of a different sort altogether. Ilse discovers a world where every pleasure has a price and there are levels of magic and intrigue she once thought unimaginable. She also finds the other half of her heart.
Review
“Passion Play, indeed. Passionate, articulate, clever, this book sings right along. Desperate measures and hope bundled together in a daring adventure. Byzantine politics seldom combine so well with great characters. A marvelous debut novel.”—Patricia Briggs, New York Times bestselling author
"Passion Play is, in my estimation, a brilliant debut novel - the author detailing her environment and terrain with a sure hand and an excellent vocabulary. While the reader must cope with royal intrigues and war-posturing, all is linked to the two protagonists who give us a poignant love story. Please write a sequel to this one, Beth Bernobich!"--Anne McCaffrey
"Passion Play immediately plunges you into a deep world of past lives and magic... the layers are crafted so masterfully that you can't put the book down to climb out of the story." LA Banks, The Vampire Huntress Legends Series
Review
Praise for Passion Play
“Readers will be impatient for a sequel.” —Publishers Weekly
“Bernobichs debut is a rich, compulsively readable fantasy.” —Booklist“Passion Play immediately plunges you into a deep world of past lives and magic...the layers are crafted so masterfully that you can't put the book down to climb out of the story."
—L. A. Banks, author of The Vampire Huntress Legends series
“Passion Play, indeed. Passionate, articulate, clever, this book sings right along. Desperate measures and hope bundled together in a daring adventure. Byzantine politics seldom combine so well with great characters. A marvelous debut novel.” —Patricia Briggs, New York Times bestselling author
About the Author
BETH BERNOBICH comes from a family of story tellers, artists, and engineers. She juggles her time between working with computer software, writing, family, and karate. Her short stories have appeared publications such as Asimov's, Interzone, Postscripts, Strange Horizons, and Sex in the System. She lives with her husband and son in Bethany, Connecticut. Passion Play is her first novel. http://www.beth-bernobich.com.