Prospero Mirror A N Donaldson 9781483954585 Books
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Oxford, 1935
M. R. James, Britain’s greatest writer of ghost stories, is summoned by the Warden of Old College to investigate the inscription on an ancient stone mirror. But he finds himself drawn into a dark maze of secrets, including one from his own guilty past.
Oxford, 1665
At a time when established orthodoxies are being challenged by the new science, Warden Woodward of Old College has acquired the same mirror. He soon suspects conspiracy and witchcraft in a city besieged by plague.
Assailed by devastating visions, caught between fears of an ancient curse and the World Wars of the future, two men from different centuries delve into a forgotten mystery and are forced to confront their own demons. But is self-reflection the most dangerous thing of all? And are there some words that can kill?
“What is read cannot be unread...”
Stella Rimington said “Necromancy, witchcraft and gruesome goings on among the dreaming spires. This historically based, well researched and beautifully written blood chiller will have you looking over your shoulder for nameless horrors. Beware of the ending, particularly if you suffer from bad dreams.”
Frances Cairncross said “Alasdair Donaldson has written a splendidly spooky first novel, vividly combining the horrors of plague-ridden 17th century Oxford with mysterious goings on in the wintry city in the interwar years. His creepy description of the deserted cloister and turrets of ‘Old College’ over Christmas is guaranteed to ensure that no undergraduate stays behind in Oxford over the holidays.”
Prospero Mirror A N Donaldson 9781483954585 Books
Monty James is the main antiquarian in this metaphysical who dun it. Prospero's Mirror is a delightful read for all those who enjoy an atmospheric shudder, tea, and Monty's era, before WWII. Hard to put down and well worth the time! Well done AN Donaldson!Product details
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Tags : Prospero's Mirror [A N Donaldson] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Oxford, 1935 M. R. James, Britain’s greatest writer of ghost stories, is summoned by the Warden of Old College to investigate the inscription on an ancient stone mirror. But he finds himself drawn into a dark maze of secrets,A N Donaldson,Prospero's Mirror,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1483954587,FICTION Ghost,Fiction,Fiction - Horror,Ghost,Horror & ghost stories,FICTION Horror
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Prospero Mirror A N Donaldson 9781483954585 Books Reviews
If you enjoy a ghost story you will surely enjoy Prospero's Mirror. From its cover art and opening pages you might think of it as an "Oxbridge Novel". And in one way it is - as an imaginary Oxford College provides the backdrop - but in many ways it isn't. This is not about the teenage angst and life journey of a Brideshead Revisited or Glittering Prizes. This is about creaking floorboards, sinister characters, unexplained events and evil that transcends time. It is a classic, scary camp fire tale. And it is done well - mixing fact and fiction to keep you reading
You can tell the author enjoyed researching and structuring this complex narrative. And, fortunately the reader enjoys it as well. It has something of the appeal of a Tom Stoppard play which flatters its audience to use their knowledge and offers up literary, political, philosophical and historical references.
The setting is the slightly archly named Old College, Oxford which is so obviously standing in for New College. This is to the extent that the story, which jumps about in time in a satisfying and well structured fashion, names Reverend Spooner to have been Warden before the First World War which of course was the role of the real the inspiration of the Spoonerism. Indeed the main protagonist of the novel is the real and renowned ghost story writer and academic M.R. James. An example of his, presumably out of copyright, work is added as a bonus at the end of the book.
The plot takes us from the run up to World War Two with side mentions for Roosevelt and Himmler, via the horrors of the Black Death to an Elizabethan alchemist whose influence on Shakespeare gives us the book's title which refer to an artefact which is the central element of the plot.
For aficionados of the genre this has a bit of everything. For those who are new to this style the book is a gateway to a literary form which may soon enjoy a new lease of life.
To sum it up this book is clever and compelling.
This is great fun. Properly written, page-turning, creepy, and packed with literary/ historical/ philosophical cross-references and puzzles to satisfy the sort of reader who doesn't just like turning the pages.
If Umberto Eco and H.P. Lovecraft had a torrid affair, the love-child would probably end up looking a little like this book.
A beautifully-written, thoroughly-researched and genuinely scary story which I couldn't put down - I felt compelled to continue, much as the protagonist is. The settings in seventeenth-century and early twentieth-century Oxford are a bonus for any Oxonian, though I may never be able to see "Old College" in quite the same way again.
I can't wait to hear more from A N Donaldson...
BOOK REVIEW
Prospero's Mirror
by A.N. Donaldson
Donaldson has written an excellent and scary ghost novel and all the major characters are real people as are the main historical events recounted. The volume even concludes with some surprise bonuses.
First a word or two about the central character and narrator of the tale... Montague Rhodes James, 1862-1938 a renowned Mediaeval English scholar, translator of the New Testament Apocrypha, and Provost of both King's College Cambridge and Eton College.
James is however mainly remembered for having written the best ghost stories in the British Isles or maybe even the world. I first encountered him as a youngster when the BBC Radio broadcast a dramatisation of his "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad" as part of their series "Appointment With Fear". This led me to his anthologies and I have been his fan ever since.
Donaldson has James narrate his weird experiences when called from Eton to Old College Oxford to investigate a peculiar obsidian mirror. A fictitious tale but written so well I felt I had James beside me telling his story. Said mirror was discovered among the effects of a College scholar who died mysteriously, it is similar to that used by Dr John Dee in his scrying and now displayed in The British Museum. On going through the papers of the deceased scholar Montague Rhodes James finds much intriguing information concerning it and its history.
He also finds journals of a College Provost from the time of Charles 2nd concerning College life then recounting the horrors of The Great Plague on its arrival in Oxford. I found this section reminiscent of Poe's works especially "Masque of the Red Death". The story alternates between events in 17th century Oxford and the pre WW2 1930's. In the earlier portions the Provost makes mention of a rather weird College Fellow he deems satanic. His ultimate fate is pure Poe...... I'll say no more.
In the current narrations we learn how James starts having terrible nightmares and becomes aware of some other presence associated with the mirror. He also discovers a lost book written by Dee and translates some disturbing parts of an Enochian manuscript. He and the current Provost begin to wonder just what a German sabbatical scholar is actually doing in Old College and James even uses a ploy from his "Casting the Runes" to try getting him to move out.
To learn all beg, buy, or borrow the book, it's well worth it. I must however nit-pick on minor items claimed as fact in latter day discussions among College Fellows. Aleister Crowley did not found The Order of the Golden Dawn as claimed but was a relatively minor member of its First Order until he conned the leader, Mathers, to admit him to its Second Order in Paris. Rather than found the Order he came close to destroying it.
In addition the Nazi salute is not a sign from The Golden Dawn but taken from Benito Mussolini's Fascist Roman salute also adopted by Mosley in Britain among other Fascist leaders. Pity as everything else is so accurate; I can envisage crotchetty old real James castigating the author for those errors.
As to the bonuses ? Donaldson follows on with an account of the life of M.R. James and an analysis of this book and its relationship to ghost stories in general. He then confirms my conclusions on Poe by comparing him with James.
What better finale but first off James' eerie story "A Warning to the Curious" ? This is based on a fictitious tale of three early Saxon crowns buried on the English coast which protect England from Germanic Invasions and the awful fate of the young man who disinterred one of them. Should you ever find such a crown best leave well alone.
Second, Poe's horrific "Masque of the Red Death" centred on a raging plague and a group trying to escape it by isolating themselves in an impregnable castle just as some 17th century Oxford scholars did in this book. Neither proved successful.
I purchased my copy from KINDLE but it is also available as a hard back from .
During my search for this title I also came across and downloaded "A Pleasing Terror" The complete Supernatural writings of M.R. James. An amazing collection of his works and papers on the genre, this will keep me very busy for some time.
I have written a short story inspired by James' "The Mezzotint" and his "The Haunted Doll's House" plus the old English Legend of "The Mistletoe Bough. It can be found at site [...] under the title "That Damned House".
After reading 60% of this book, I decided to close it up. I tried to enjoy it, but it just was not for me. I found I did not care about any of the characters nor did I care about what was going on. When the story came round to the plague, I thought surely I could hang on just a bit longer, but after that it was all down hill. I'm not sure where the ghosts were and I don't care, really. When will I begin to trust myself and realize I simply do not care for ghost's stories.
Donaldson has the most superb ear for inner monologue and a great flair for period diction. Couple that with a subtle step-by-step escalation of disquiet and some sudden drops into the truly unsettling and you have a winner on your hands. Has much, much more than the straightforward homage to James to recommend it.
Monty James is the main antiquarian in this metaphysical who dun it. Prospero's Mirror is a delightful read for all those who enjoy an atmospheric shudder, tea, and Monty's era, before WWII. Hard to put down and well worth the time! Well done AN Donaldson!
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