Green Darkness

“This unforgettable story of undying love combines mysticism, suspense, mystery, and romance into a web of good and evil that stretches from 16th-century England to the present day. Richard Marsdon marries a young American woman named Celia, brings her to live at his English estate, and all seems to be going well. But now Richard has become withdrawn, and Celia is constantly haunted by a vague dread. When she suffers a breakdown and wavers between life and death, a wise doctor realizes that only by forcing Celia to relive her past can he enable her to escape her illness. Celia travels back 400 years in time to her past life as a beautiful but doomed servant. Through her eyes, we see the England of the Tudors, torn by religious strife, and experience all the pageantry, lustiness, and cruelty of the age.”

Fearing that I could not possibly do this book justice, I decided instead to cut and paste the review from Amazon. This historical romance is exceptionally written; each character is fully drawn-out by the author to give us a glimpse into life during the reign of the Mary and Elizabeth. I myself, enjoyed the romantic Romeo & Juliet angle to the story, but was also surprised to learn that many of the castles and villages mentioned in the book are actually real, and can still be seen today in England. Below is a photograph of the castle Ightham Mote. It is a popular tourist attraction because it looks almost exactly as it did over 400 years ago (complete with moat), and is featured prominently in Green Darkness.