Carter begins to learn that her husband, Kim, is not what he seems: people from his past hint at his involvement in the occult, and his family's connection to the Nazis. Carter has an alarming encounter with the "psychic healer" who warned Kim against this marriage; and with the seeming ghost of Kim's ex-wife who has just died in a strangely suspicious accident. Kim grows more and more cagey in his explanations for his behavior and his seeming deceptions and bit by bit, everything Carter thinks she knows about him falls into question. Soon, she is questioning what she thinks she knows about herself as well.

Her world shattering -- is she going mad? -- Carter plunges into a darkness and terror she has never known before, and pushing past her own skepticism, seeks shelter and help at St. Benet's Healing Center. Now, with the psychological and spiritual aid of the people at the Centre -- Father Nick Darrow, the mysteriously alluring healer; Father Lewis Hall, Darrow's down-to-earth counterpart; Alice, the magnificent cook and all around angel-of-mercy; and Tucker, a lay worker who's interest in helping Carter is both altruistic and deeply personal -- Carter moves slowly toward the truth both about Kim and, more importantly, about herself: what she's wanted in the past and sacrificed to get it, and what she surprises herself by wanting in the future.

Once again, Susan Howatch has written a novel thatgalvanizes us with the richness of its ideas and incident, the fullness of its characters and its intelligence. Once again, she has proved herself a master storyteller.