A rare book collector in New York City receives a grimoire, a medieval book of black magic; shortly afterward, he is murdered. His daughter, Beatrice O'Connell, believes that the grimoire is connected to the murder and vows to discover how and why. Soon, she realizes that there is a powerful conspiracy connected to the grimoire as well as to another tome, a 15th-century book written to encode Christendom's eradication of witchcraft. As she grapples with the conspiracy, Beatrice also struggles with her long-dormant sexuality, now awakened to a fierce pitch. This provocative, compelling, and unsettling novel brilliantly explores the misogyny of Western culture and particularly of the Catholic Church.
- ISBN10 0525936416
- ISBN13 9780525936411
- Publish Date 1 October 1994
- Publish Status Temporarily Withdrawn
- Out of Print 18 August 2009
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
- Imprint E P Dutton & Co Inc
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 401
- Language English