To the Devil - a Daughter [Paperback]

Dennis Wheatley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 1991

Beneath the azure sky of the French Riviera, Christina Mordant looks and behaves like any other attractive girl. But each night as darkness falls, the demon within her betrays its presence. A thousand miles away, deep in the Essex marshes, a priest of Satan is about to achieve his life's ambition: Canon Copely-Syle of Bentford Priory prepares for the virgin sacrifice which will give breath to the foul abomination he has created...

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Arrow (February 21, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749306734
• ISBN-13: 978-0749306731
• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 1 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,412,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cute, for a novel about satanism...., August 11, 2008

By 

Seven Kitties "7kitties" (Blue Point, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: To the Devil a Daughter (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)

This book was written post-WWII. Two of the protagonists, then, are ex-British secret service (of some sort), and their enemies have changed from Nazis to anyone who subverts the return to Order--Communists especially. Communists in league with Satanists, doubly-especially.

For modern audiences, this reads a bit dully: mother and son don't so much talk *at* each other as throw hefty paragraphs of exposition at one another's heads. Sometimes the dialogue almost seems normal, but those are normally the 'charming and witty' phases of interaction--some friendly joking between mom and son or between mother and former coworker.

Plotwise, think satanism combined with spy thriller. There's kidnapping, and dark conspiracies and druggings and drubbings and everything you could possibly want--including the three-pages-from-the-end climax. Everything possible goes wrong for our heros, which means a decent amount of suspense.

Wheatley seems to preach at you about Satanism, and this is forgiveable only because he's done his homework, so if nothing else you feel like you learned a lot about WWII and their beliefs in occult practices.

It's a cute read; the love story is kind of thin, and meddling Molly Fountain gets a bit ditzy at the end, but it's got an unpredictable plot, a suitably creepy bad guy, scary--without excessive grossness--rituals, and no sex at all. If you like Stephen King (what I call 'New Horror') you will not care for this book at all--it's not disgusting enough or weird enough. If you like a good adventure with a bit of occult--think Buchan's _Dancing Floor_--this is a solid and fun read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tale of Satanic Sacrifice Thwarted., May 25, 2008

By 

New Age of Barbarism "zosimos" (EVROPA.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: To the Devil a Daughter (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)

_To the Devil a Daughter_, first published in 1953 and made available here by Wordsworth Editions Tales of Mystery & The Supernatural, is an occult suspense novel by British novelist Dennis Wheatley that features themes of black magic and Satanism. Dennis Wheatley (1897 - 1977) was a British novelist who is perhaps best known for his occult thriller novels. Wheatley was a defender of British royalty, the empire, and the class system and an opponent of Communism and his novels feature protagonists who adhere to that particular point of view. In some respects, this novel is a sequel to the novel _The Devil Rides Out_ (1934), although it contains a different cast of characters and occurs after the Second World War had been fought. The events surrounding the black magician Mocata as played out in _The Devil Rides Out_ are mentioned in this novel in passing. The novel makes reference to British spycraft following the Second World War and the continuing threat of Bolshevism and Soviet Communism. Wheatley's novels feature themes of black magic and Satanism which Wheatley was to write about after encountering figures such as Aleister Crowley and the Reverend Montague Summers. While the name of Crowley is mentioned in passing in this novel (noting some trouble Crowley encountered while in Paris), it is the Reverend Montague Summers who Wheatley met that provides the foundation for the central villain of this novel. Montague Summers appeared in the garb of a Restoration bishop and frequently wrote on themes of the occult and witchcraft from a Roman Catholic perspective. While Wheatley and Summers had a falling out over a rare book that Summers wanted Wheatley to purchase, Summers nevertheless provides the inspiration for the fictional Canon Copley-Syle. Concerning Wheatley, he was religious and held towards belief in Christianity though his belief was slightly unorthodox in that he believed in reincarnation. When asked about black magic, Wheatley would always reply "Don't meddle!", indicating his opinion that one should avoid tampering with such forces of darkness.

This novel begins with Molly Fountain, a writer of mysteries and spy thrillers and believed by some to be the beautiful spy Molly Polloffski, living in the French Rivierra where she encounters the young girl who goes by the name Christina (whose real name is Ellen Beddows). Christina has been sent to live there to hide from some men who want to get her by her father. In addition, Christina exhibits certain strange behaviors in that during the night-time she becomes someone other than herself and animals shy away from her. Molly's son John decides to take Christina out and learns of her strange behaviors while out gambling one night. While there they encounter the Canon Copley-Syle who Christina knew from her home in England. Christina is subsequently kidnapped by the Marquis de Grasse and his son Count Jules, smugglers who seek to send her back to England. Together with Colonel Verney (known as "C.B."), a friend of Molly, John seeks to re-capture Christina. In order to escape the grasp of the Marquis, John must give Christina a ring in order to pretend that they are engaged and in that manner helps prevent the demonic forces from overtaking her. Meanwhile, in England it turns out that Christina's father Mr. Beddows is a very wealthy man who has made a vile pact with the Canon to obtain his riches. C.B. visits the Canon and encounters his diabolical laboratory, featuring the dread humonculous, as it is revealed that Copley-Syle is a practitioner of Satanism. Ultimately it is revealed that he seeks Christina to sacrifice as a virgin on her twenty-first birthday. Together with C.B. and Beddows (who has been a life-long Satanist but recently has a change of heart), John must rescue Christina from a "cave of bats" where she is to be sacrificed by Canon Copley-Syle, the chief Satanist, and his band of Satanists.

This novel is extremely enjoyable for all those who enjoy the novels of Dennis Wheatley. Throughout the novel, Wheatley offers an interplay of the forces of light and darkness played out through action scenes. Wheatley further reveals much occult knowledge in the doings of Copley-Syle. Further, this novel offers a warning to those who would dabble in Satanism against the forces of light.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a great book by a masterful writer., April 3, 2009

By 

D. Cashmore "cashie" (australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: To the Devil a Daughter (Wordsworth Mystery & Supernatural) (Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (Paperback)

Dennis Wheatley is one of my favourite authors, I have read every novel and now I am re reading them.
A great book