The Red Winter

Lusty, dark, queer fantasy - The Red Winter is perfect for fans of The Witcher and Susanna Clarke. Inspired by the eighteenth-century legend of the Beast of Gévaudan.<BR><BR>'Charming, haunting, ambitious'<BR>- T. KINGFISHER, author of Nettle & Bone<BR><BR>A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power and redemption.<BR><BR>In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake. Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of Sarmodel, the demon he plays host to, bringing the monster down nearly cost him his life.<BR><BR>Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d'Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.<BR><BR>Some monsters, it seems, simply won't stay buried . . .<BR><BR>'An absolute feast of a book: rich, red, sinfully delicious' <BR>- ALIX E. HARROW, author of Starling House