Books & Audiobooks
Twenty-year old Elspeth Spindle lives in a fantastic land called Blunder, a place filled with mist, magic, and myths. Plagued by a mysterious infection as a child, she hears a voice in her head that is not her own. The Nightmare, as he is known, protects her and keeps her secrets. But he has secrets of his own…
One night, she is accosted by a highwayman and her life changes immediately. Suddenly Elspeth is on a journey to save herself and all those similarly infected before the disease eats away at their minds and bodies. Her only chance of curing herself is finding every single one of the Providence Cards, cards that give grand magical powers to those who hold them. But can she live long enough to save herself and those she loves?
Lush, lyrical, and gothic, One Dark Window is a tale that is equal parts thrilling and romantic. Rachel Gillig sweeps the reader away to a dark, fantastical world, filled with an evil king, a complex plot of high treason, two opposing princes, an ensnaring mist, and a handsome highwayman who steals the heroine’s heart. The world she creates is complex and imaginative with a rich history and backstory; it takes some time to understand how magic works and how power flows in this infected land. But once the roots of the plot begin to grow and wrap around you, it becomes harder and harder to put the book down.
Elspeth has had The Nightmare living in her head for eleven years and grows up to be wary and quiet. Her father sends her off to live at her aunt’s house, unable to have his infected daughter in the same house. So, she grows up feeling neglected and lonely, the voice in her head her only companion. But as she spends more time with Ravyn Yew, the masked highwayman and the King’s esteemed nephew, Elspeth discovers a whole world she never knew. But the more she draws on The Nightmare’s power to help Ravyn and his friends, the more she realizes is at stake.
In One Dark Window, we are given a small portal into Elspeth’s mind and the world she inhabits, a world that is dark, rich, and intensely dangerous. Gillig weaves a story that feels as real as The Nightmare that lives in Elspeth’s head. As the story reaches its thrilling conclusion, The Nightmare has enough power to escape out of Elspeth’s mind; his putrid breath is warm on your neck and his claws crawl out of the book not long after you’ve turned the last page.