Summary1843 is the "last year of the world," according the Elias
Fitcher, a charismatic preacher in the Finger Lakes
district of New York State. He's established a utopian
community on an estate outside the town of Jekyll's Glen,
where the faithful wait, work, and pray for the world to
end.
Vernelia, Amy, and Katherine Charter are the three young
townswomen whose father falls under the Reverend Fitcher's
hypnotic sway. In their old house, where ghostly voices
whisper from the walls, the girls are ruled by their
stepmother, who is ruled in turn by the fiery preacher.
Determined to spend Eternity as a married man, Fitcher
casts his eye on Vernelia, and before much longer the two
are wed. But living on the man's estate, separated from her
family, Vern soon learns the extent of her husband's dark
side. It's rumored that he's been married before, though
what became of those wives she does not know. Perhaps the
secret lies in the locked room at the very top of the house-
the single room that the Reverend Fitcher has forbidden to
her. Inspired by the classic fairy tales "Bluebeard"
and "Fitcher's Bird," this dark fantasy is set in New York
State's "Burned-Over District," at its time of historic
religious ferment. All three Charter sisters will play
their part in the story of Fitcher's Utopia: a story of
faith gone wrong, and evil countered by one brave, true
soul.
|
