'The three books of The Crucible are set, not in the medieval Europe of our past, but in the medieval Europe of a parallel universe: the insertion of even one fictional character among a host of historical characters necessarily creates that parallel world. Thus, while there are many similarities between our past and the world of The Crucible, there are also subtle differences. Chapter I begins with Pope Gregory XI's return to Rome on January 16th 1377 - a historical fact from our own world - but from that time on, the Europe of The Crucible skews away from our historical past, although many points of historical reference remain the same. Although some dates and 'facts' have altered, the spirit of The Crucible remains identical to that of our medieval Europe.'
Source: Author's website saradouglass.com (Sighted 14/04/10)
The Nameless Day
Pymble
:
Voyager
,
2000
Z387654
2000
single work
novel
fantasy
'The Nameless Day is, according to the ancient pagan calendar of Europe, the one day of the year when the world of mankind and the enigmatic world of the spirits touch. Mid-century the forces of evil slide across the divide and invade Europe.'
Source: fantasticfiction.co.uk (Sighted 14/04/10)
'The Nameless Day opens in 1377. Brother Thomas Neville, a Domincan friar, has arrived in Rome to continue his studies at the St Angelo Friary. Aided by the archangel St Michael, Neville discovers that the world has gone mad. Demons from hell have infected human society at its highest levels and threaten to ensalve mankind. Only by discovering the lost casket of Wynkyn de Worde, a friar who had lived at St Angelo's thirty years earlier, can Neville hope to defeat the demons.
As his journey in search of the lost casket takes him through Europe, Neville quickly realises he is surrounded by demons. They taunt him and tempt him at every opportunity. Neville discovers that the casket has been returned to England, his homeland. Before long he finds himself once more in the company of his childhood friends and allies - Hal Bolingbroke, son of the Duke of Lancaster, his uncle, Ralph Neville, Baron Raby, and the mighty Lancaster himself. While these men aid him, Neville becomes convinced that Raby's mistress, the beautiful Margaret Rivers, is a demon whose only purpose is to tempt him away from God's word. The only problem for Neville, is that Margaret is pregnant with his child ...'
Source: Author's website saradouglass.com (Sighted 14/04/10)
The Wounded Hawk
Pymble
:
Voyager
,
2001
Z824839
2001
single work
novel
fantasy
'In fourteenth-century Europe, the first wave of devastation from the Great Plague is just ending. Soldier-turned-monk Thomas Neville has received his latest marching orders from the Archangel Michael, who has given Neville the divine mission of tracking down an army of demons posing as ordinary human beings and plotting a war on humanity and heaven. Now Neville sheds his cassock to join the ranks of English estate owners and infiltrate the society of power brokers, in which the demons remain cloaked. It is becoming less and less clear whom he can trust, or even whether he is on the right side of good and evil.' (Source: LibrariesAustralia)
The Crippled Angel
Pymble
:
Voyager
,
2002
Z960017
2002
single work
novel
fantasy
'The conclusion of Douglass' Crucible series completes the saga of Thomas Neville, the medieval nobleman turned cleric, whom the Archangel Michael has entrusted with battling a horde of shape-shifting demons unwittingly released from hell. As the fourteenth century comes to a close, Neville has left the Dominican priesthood and is still searching for the late Father de Worde's casket, a mysterious container that harbors the means to overthrow the demons. Neville has also discovered that heaven's angelic minions have the power to mate with human females and produce their own less-than-savory offspring. Amid growing friendship with Henry Bolingbroke (eventually England's King Henry IV), who may be a demon in disguise, Neville is becoming less sure of Michael's beneficence and more conflicted about his mission.' (Source: LibrariesAustralia)
