Dark Runner

'Dark Runner' is the story of a girl who moves as a temporary tenant into a London flat, only to find herself gradually - almost imperceptibly - drawn into its intrinsic evil. Lucinda Morland is nineteen, beautiful, bright and - as her parents repeatedly tell themselves - sensible. So it is understandable that she should want to find her own place, and fortunate that Mr. Maisie Maturin should have decided to go to South Africa for the winter, leaving free her nice, warm, fully furnished flat in Kensington - at a remarkable low rent: "I just want someone sympathetic to keep it warm for me." But from the start the flat is disturbing. The decor is weird and overpoweringly exotic. There is rotting food in the kitchen and a sickly sweet smell pervades the place. And an oddly-assorted band of strangers starts to close in around Lucy - locals from the pub, who know the flat; who want to join her at all hours for coffee, for drinks, and for seances of which 'dear Maisie' was so fond. Worse still, along with the strangeness of Lucy's new home, goes a painful obsession with the beautiful Jesuit priest who she sees fleetingly on the pub, or across the street. As darkness and madness join hands to drag her into a world of evil and corruption, Lucy senses that it is to him she must turn - to his mysterious strength, for good or ill - though to do so is to expose herself to the pain of forbidden love and to fuel the sexual fantasies which haunt her waking or sleeping. Book Dust Jacket


Genre: General Fiction