Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
In 1893, David, age fifteen and an orphan, strives to grow into manhood after escaping a brutal indentureship. When he is hired at a grist mill in a small Tennessee town, life looks promising-until someone puts the empty cash box by his bed. He flees. He won't be tied, locked up. Never again. He runs through a thick forest and stumbles onto an old road. A creaking gate startles him in the darkness. Two stone eagles carved of white marble perch on high pillars. He shivers, the eagles familiar as in a dream. At the end of the cobbled drive, moonlight frames a mist-shrouded mansion. Desperate and exhausted, he breaks in and discovers an astonishing library. Furniture, covered and spectral, crowds the room's center and bookshelves soar into dark shadows. Cold and in pain, David sinks into the warmth of a cushioned chair. As he sleeps, he does not see a shimmering light drifting down a curved, iron staircase. The light approaches, hovers, and as David stirs, disappears. Has he been lured into a trap or a refuge?