The Second Sleep: A novelFrom the bestselling author of Conclave, Fatherland, and the Cicero Trilogy comes a chilling and dark new thriller unlike anything Robert Harris has done before. 1468. A young priest, Christopher Fairfax, arrives in a remote Exmoor village to conduct the funeral of his predecessor. The land around is strewn with ancient artefacts—coins, fragments of glass, human bones—which the old parson used to collect. Did his obsession with the past lead to his death? Fairfax becomes determined to discover the truth. Over the course of the next six days, everything he believes—about himself, his faith, and the history of his world—will be tested to destruction. |
Contents
Wednesday 10th April an unexpected incident at the burial | |
In which Fairfaxs plans are thwarted | |
A hand reaches out from the past | |
Thursday 11th April The Piggeries | |
The registers yield a secret | |
Colonel Durstons collection | |
The supper party | |
The Devils Chair | |
Friday 12th April in which Fairfax returns to Axford | |
The Heresy of the Ancient World | |
Captain Hancock learns the secret | |
Making the acquaintance of Dr Shadwell | |
Return to the Devils Chair | |
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Common terms and phrases
Addicott St Agnes ancients Apocalypse arms Axford began beneath beside Bishop Pole Book of Revelation boots Budd burial candle Captain Hancock cassock church close dark Devil's Chair door Durston Court earth Exeter eyes face Fairfax thought Father Fairfax Father Lacy feet felt fingers front Gann glanced glass ground hair hand head heard heavy held heresy horse John Hancock Keefer knees Lacy's Lady Durston leaned lifted light looked lychgate metal Morgenstern morning moved never night nodded once opened parson parsonage perhaps plastic priest pulled Quycke rain reached road ROBERT HARRIS Rose Sarah Durston seemed Shadwell Shadwell's sheriff shoulder shovel side silence Society of Antiquaries sound stared stood stopped sure tell tent took torch tower trees trench turned village voice walked wall watched Wessex window wondered ye'll