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British born Michael Feraru, scion of a long line of Romanian aristocrats, leaves his country of birth and his love, to reclaim his heritage - a Draculian castle deep in the heart of Transylvania. He plans to turn his inheritance into an orphanage in the new post-Ceausescu, post-communist country. There he enlists the help of a young local lawyer, Liliana Popescu, to search for the missing Feraru millions, and battle through the complex maze of old bureaucracy in the scam-rich, newly-born state. Feraru describes his journey into the heart of the Romanian countryside, wasted by years of neglect and caught in a time-warp, as though the twentieth century had never reached it. When he eventually arrives at his inheritance, he finds the castle of the Ferarus, in a sunless valley in the Carpathian Mountains, is home to much more than memories... Aycliffe conjures a feeling of dread that deepens with each unsettling incident.'' TIME OUT ''Aycliffe has a fine touch.'' INDEPENDENT ''Should ultimately be ranked among the greats.'' INTERZONE ''There are echoes of the great ghost writer of them all, Edgar Allan Poe, in the poised and elegant bookishness of the prose.'' SCOTSMAN ''Sends chills down the spine. Read him and you''ll never forget him.'' YORKSHIRE GAZETTE
