Stel Parad
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Chicago, 1845.
I&M Canal gravedigger Enda Hughes buries a hanged man on Suicide Hill. A priest dies of a sudden heart attack.
When a curse is found pinned to the church door from a stranger claiming he was denied alms, it sets off a chain of mysterious events that begin to plague the town of Keepataw.
When the canal foreman alerts Enda to an order of phantom monks seen wandering the cemetery, it calls everything she and her apothecary husband, Keir, know into question.
As revengeful deaths, ancient visions, sinister monks, and visitations from unsettled spirits plague their town, the Hughes and encamping Native American tribe must use their medicine and magic as a barrier to save themselves from the unholiest of brotherhoods.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A diverse cast of magic workers battle a malevolent force in 1845 Illinois in Menzel's atmospheric but bewildering debut. While investigating a canal worker who froze to death, Enda Hughes, a grave digger and Irish immigrant, has a troubling, violent vision and falls into a feverish state. A vast array of narrators with near indistinguishable voices take over from here, recounting a series of bizarre events connected to Drogo Kavalye the host for an evil being called an asumcorda and their own struggles to combat him. Those working to use magic to contain Drogo include apothecary Keir, Enda's husband; Enda and Keir's adopted Native American daughter, Nanokas; Nontie Gates, an escaped former slave; Nontie's ghost companion; and newspaper editor Sugmuk. Their efforts bring no success as the scope of the tale expands to include vast conspiracies, ghostly monks who speak in backwards Latin, and shape-shifters. The result is poetic and idiosyncratic, but exceedingly difficult to piece together. Readers who enjoy seemingly impenetrable puzzles will find plenty here to unscramble, but most will be frustrated by the opacity.
