Waking the Ancients by Catherine Cavendish

I am so happy to have author Catherine Cavendish on my blog again today. I adore her books - always a little spooky, sometimes pretty spooky but never enough to terrify the life out of me. I particularly enjoy her settings populated by very real life (except the ghosts) characters. Personally, I think her writing just gets better and better

She has just had her new book: Waking the Ancients  published by Kensington Press (blurb and buy details below). I've just started it (and already it's pretty spooky) and I only put it down for a moment to write this post. My review will appear shortly.

Here Catherine tells us about:

The Castle of Unrequited Love

I have set a large part of Waking the Ancients in Vienna, Austria where many ghosts and restless spirits walk among the verdant parks and lavish palaces. But Austrian ghosts do not confine themselves to their nation’s imperial capital. They can be found in towns, cities, villages and the depths of the countryside all over this beautiful land.

Situated near the attractive hamlet of Stein am Forst, between Vienna and Ybbs in Upper Austria, Schloss Ernegg has always been in the hands of the same family – the Auerspergs. Today it provides an elegant and lavish wedding venue and can accommodate sizeable parties for relaxing holidays in a quiet, rural setting.

But, like many castles of great age – it was built in the 12^th century - Ernegg has its secrets – and its unquiet spirits. Most notable of these is a young man who had the misfortune to fall in love with the daughter of the then owner, Count Auersperg. Being a lowly servant, this love could not be allowed to continue unchecked and one evening, the Count caught the hapless young man entering the girl’s bedroom. His misdemeanour had fatal consequences, as the Count had him arrested and executed, but the ghost of that young servant still walks the corridors, searching for his lost love.

Of course such a prestigious family as the Auerspergs have more than one ghost in their history. Countess Maria Wilhelmina, Princess of Auersperg by marriage, infamously had an affair with the Empress Maria Theresia’s husband, Emperor Francis I. This lasted until the Emperor’s death, despite him having fathered 16 children with his wife. Married off in haste by the angry Empress, Maria Wilhelmina is said to haunt the gardens of the palace of Schönbrunn, having endured an unhappy marriage and an early death at the age of only 37. Will she ever find peace?

Waking the Ancients

Legacy In Death

Egypt, 1908

University student Lizzie Charters accompanies her mentor, Dr. Emeryk Quintillus, on the archeological dig to uncover Cleopatra’s tomb. Her presence is required for a ceremony conducted by the renowned professor to resurrect Cleopatra’s spirit—inside Lizzie’s body. Quintillus’s success is short-lived, as the Queen of the Nile dies soon after inhabiting her host, leaving Lizzie’s soul adrift . . .

Vienna, 2018

Paula Bancroft’s husband just leased Villa Dürnstein, an estate once owned by Dr. Quintillus. Within the mansion are several paintings and numerous volumes dedicated to Cleopatra. But the archeologist’s interest in the Egyptian empress deviated from scholarly into supernatural, infusing the very foundations of his home with his dark fanaticism. And as inexplicable manifestations rattle Paula’s senses, threatening her very sanity, she uncovers the link between the villa, Quintillus, and a woman named Lizzie Charters.

And a ritual of dark magic that will consume her soul . . .

You can find Waking the Ancients here:

Kensington Press

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About the Author:

Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels, novellas and short stories. Cat’s novels include the Nemesis of the Gods trilogy - Wrath of the Ancients, Waking the Ancients and Damned by the Ancients, plus The Devil’s Serenade, The Pendle Curse and Saving Grace Devine. She lives with her long-suffering husband, and a black cat who has never forgotten that her species used to be worshipped in ancient Egypt. She sees no reason why that practice should not continue. Cat and her family divide their time between Liverpool and a 260-year-old haunted apartment in North Wales.

You can connect with Cat here:

 Catherine Cavendish

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