Pilgrims of the Pool — Linda Acaster

Book 3 in the ‘Torc of Moonlight' trilogy of contemporary time-spanning fantasies set in northern England.

...a powerful page-turner...

Nick Blaketon leaves Durham to free Alice from the Celtic deity holding her prisoner at the Pool, echoing pilgrims who leave its priory 900 years before to seek a fabled spring where an angel-woman cures all ills.

Alice is overjoyed to be reunited with Nick, but she is not the Alice he remembers. As is the land, she is transforming. His life has also changed, leaving him caught between betrayals.

When Alice's presence at the Pool is jeopardised by a hydraulic fracturing operation and the conservation activists opposing it, Nick cannot walk away. But do the pilgrims pose a greater threat? As Time intersects, has he faith enough to change events in a mediaeval past of hallowed saints and conjured demons, or has Alice's power to heal initiated her own demise?

...rich in atmosphere, heavy with dread...