Hammersleigh — Nicola Thorne

There is a legend in the Yorkshire village of Hammersleigh that tells of the forbidden love between a monk, Abbot Roderick, and a nun, the beautiful Agatha, Prioress of Hammersleigh Priory. It has been five hundred years, so they say, since Roderick went abroad to seek permission for the marriage and returned to be told of the mysterious death of his beloved Agatha.

Karen Blackwood is not quite sure what she will find in Hammersleigh, her childhood home, when she returns there after the death of her husband. With powerful but misleading memories of childhood to guide her, she begins a new life, and discovers that she has very unusual artistic talents.

When she meets Hugh Fullerton, the reckless and handsome master of Hammersleigh Hall, Karen begins to wonder if her decision to return had been her own â€" or someone else's. The ruins of Oldham Abbey lie near to the Fullerton estate, and there a woman's figure approaches and then disappears into the mist, only to reappear in Karen's paintings. A bereaved widow's imagination? Or a bizarre case of reincarnation? Hammersleigh is a tale of frightening suspense and psychic force.