On the Other Side of the Sky — Hugh Ashton

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, a group of learned men in the English Midlands, the Lunar Society, works to bring science and reason to the world. In America, the colonists are starting to break away from Britain in the War of Independence. In France, relations between the King and the people are worsening, which will eventually result in the bloodshed of the Revolution.And in a farmhouse not far from Birmingham, a young girl hears a frightening prophecy about her future from one who comes from the other side of the sky,Orphan Jane Machin, exiled from her native Staffordshire as a child on account of the uncanny events of which she appears to be the focus, and living a lonely life in Zürich, sets out on a journey to discover her true nature. On the way she discovers strange affinities: with Otto, mesmerist, conjuror and alchemist, and with Thomas FitzAlan, former soldier in the American War and English secret agent. Travelling through Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium, she arrives in Revolutionary France at the height of the Terror.As she discovers her hidden powers and her control over creatures she had previously regarded as fabulous, the desire for revenge against the being who calls himself her father builds inside her. She returns to England to join forces with a secretive group who are determined to see the end of the malignant forces of chaos who come from the other side of the sky and appear ready to take over our world.On the Other Side of the Sky brings together real historical figures such as Doctor Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, and Benjamin Franklin, and a background of eighteenth century Europe with a spellbinding alternative paranormal reality with its roots in traditional folklore, alchemy and the Rosicrucian tradition, and Kabbala.