Beneath It Sleeps

For readers of Slewfoot, Weyward, and The Year of the Witching, a lush, gripping Gothic novel set in 18th century Ireland, as young woman on the run from her past goes undercover within the infamous Hellfire Club, a remote lodge mired in rumors of Devil-worship and depravity . . . Charlotte “Lotty” Boyle fled to Dublin to escape the clutches of a powerful duke. She’s found some measure of protection working as the accountant for Dorcas Kelly—the city’s most notorious brothel keeper. But now, with the duke hot on her heels, Lotty needs another refuge, and Dorcas has just the place in mind. Dorcas wants Lotty to act as her spy while posing as a servant at the Hellfire Club. The very name evokes a strange dread. Nestled deep in the mountains, the old hunting lodge is rented out for secret meetings where rakish gentlemen indulge their tastes for debauchery. But from the moment she arrives, Lotty senses more at play here than human vices. The locals talk of banshees and forest spirits, and in her nightmares, Lotty is visited by a púca—a terrifying shapeshifter of Irish folklore. It is said that those who flock to the Hellfire Club dabble in satanic rituals and sacrifices. What those men don’t know, and what Lotty begins to understand, is that something far more ancient sleeps beneath the lodge—an elemental power unafraid to wage war with the Devil himself. Now, as dark magics collide, that power will awaken, eager to appease its vengeance at any price . . . Story Locale:18th century Ireland: switches between 1760 Dublin and Montpellier Hill, in the mountain of Ireland; and 1753 Dublin