Here is the last excerpt from my book Love of Shadows. The book's central character, Judith, is a traditional female healer in a city traditional medicine is banned and the penalty for breaking the law is death by hanging. In this excerpt Judith is working in an underground hospital.
“Peter,” I say. “I don’t think I’ve changed that dressing for a while.”
The rumble is growing to thunder and there are voices.
I pick up a clean dressing and a pot of ointment from the shelves and walk across the room. As I bend over the bed, I try not to think of the light of flames moving along the house walls of the square. I try not to see the look of hatred on the faces of the torchbearers. I try not to listen. I try to focus only on Peter and my hand as it peels back the dressing. I try not to listen to the clamor.
Under my breath I say a prayer: “Angels who are blessed, take this darkness from me.”
And the darkness does clear, for a while. The wound is healing, so I apply some ointment to keep it clean and pick up the new dressing.
They are overhead now. There is no escaping the words, the room almost shakes with them: “Burn the witch! Death to the witch!”
My legs fail me and I slip to my knees. I am in the darkest of my nightmares, darkness shot through with flames. “Sarah, they are coming.”
I am Zoe Brooks, a British writer and poet. I spend half my life in a partly restored old farmhouse in the Czech Republic, where I write all my novels and poetry. I aim to write popular books, which have complex characters and themes that get under the reader's skin.
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1 comment:
What a spot to end the excerpt!!
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