On the Edge of Darkness [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Barbara Erskine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 1999

Stunning repackage of the story of a woman trapped in the wrong time. Abandoned by her twentieth century lover, she plots a terrible revenge on him and his family. Adam Craig is fourteen when, near an isolated Celtic stone in the wild Scottish Highlands, he meets Brid, whose exotic, gypsy-like dress and strange attitudes fascinate him. They become friends, then, in time, passionate lovers. Brid leads him, unsuspecting, into the sixth century, where training as a Druid priestess she has mastered their ancient mysteries and powerful magic. In her obsession with Adam she is seen as a traitor by her people and only escapes death by following Adam through time to Edinburgh, where he goes to study medicine. As the years pass he makes new friends, and finds new love, causing Brid to be consumed by a violent rage that knows no bounds. For fifty years, from Scotland to England to Wales, Brid will haunt Adam like an evil shadow. It is finally Adam's granddaughter, Beth, who helps discover the secret that will free them from the terror of Brid's curse.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Barbara Erskine The Warrior's Princess: 'An engrossing race against time' Woman and Home 'This is one of the most gripping page-turners I've read' Sun Barbara's many bestsellers: 'A riveting timeslip novel' Fanny Blake 'Her forte is mood, atmosphere and the toe-curling frisson' Elizabeth Buchan, Sunday Times 'Stephen King meets Ruth Rendell' Frank Delaney 'Barbara Erskine's storytelling talent is undeniable' The Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

'STEPHEN KING MEETING WITH RUTH RENDELL' - Frank Delaney --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Isis Audio; Unabridged edition (May 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753105748
• ISBN-13: 978-0753105740
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,459,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ON THE EDGE OF DARKNESS...WHERE PAST AND PRESENT COLLIDE..., May 13, 2001

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On the Edge of Darkness (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a well written, compelling story of a love that intersects the past, as well as the present. An excellent piece of paranormal fiction, it keeps the reader riveted to the pages.

The story begins in the nineteen thirties, when a fourteen year old boy named Adam, while traipsing in the isolated crags of the Scottish highlands near an ancient Celtic stone, meets a girl named Brid whom he mistakes for a gypsy, due to her wild, long hair, and her exotic style of dress. Unbeknownst to him, a portal in time has opened, allowing Adam and Brid, who is actually a Druid from the sixth century, to cross back and forth in time. Adam, however, does not realize that he is actually travelling back and forth in time, while Brid is not only fully aware of what is happening, but is doing so in contravention of what her uncle, a high priest to the Druids, and her training have taught her.

Over time, she becomes obsessive about Adam, who is her first love, while Adam, as he grows up, moves on with his life. In leaving the heartsick Brid behind and consigning her to his memories, he takes his life in a seemingly new direction.

Brid, on the other hand, forsaking the teachings of her people and incurring the wrath of her powerful uncle and a sure sentence of death, is dead serious about Adam, and she goes through the time portal in search of him. Adam, who has by now left home to go to medical school, is unaware of her obsession and of the lifelong quest now set in motion.

Over the years, Adam makes new friends, becomes a doctor, gets married, and has a family, but Brid, trapped in the wrong time, begins to haunt them all, as she searches for Adam. Her obsession with him finally turns deadly, and the body count begins, as she seeks to tear him asunder from all whom he holds dear.

It is only fifty years into the nightmare that this obsessive love is finally put to rest. How this happens, and at what cost, will keep the reader turning the pages of this well written and imaginative novel.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Frenetic Blend of Mystical Terror and Doomed Love, December 3, 2001

By 

Diana F. Von Behren "reneofc" (Kenner, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On the Edge of Darkness (Mass Market Paperback)

As I read this book in the wake of rereading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, I was thoroughly in the mood for more Celtic tales of Druids, rituals and magic. This story does not conjur up half the magic of Bradley's masterpiece, but it does satisfactorily probe some of that primordial mystery that shrouds the ancient world and its people. In this tale, unhappy adolescent Adam spends most of his time on the hillside where the Celtic stone from another century proudly stands. Little does he know, but the stone is a gateway to another time, a time where Druid Priestess-in-training, Brid, is able to pass from her time, the 6th century into the far future---Adam's time in the 20th century. At first he views the vivacious Brid as a marvelous playmate, but when she initiates him into the pleasures of sexual love, he is smitten--at least for while. As Adam matures, he leaves his home village and sad childhood to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. His life moves onto other women, marriage and children of his own. However, Brid does not move on, she is still the young and beautiful Druidess who defies her family and her religious traditions to pursue Alan across the boundaries of time. Her obsession is all-encompassing; she lets nothing stop her from getting back into Alan's life and to control him in the only way she can--in his bed. Brid's melancholy and frustration is uniquely portrayed by Erskine--indeed it permeates the tone of the entire story.
Ms Erskine is surely the master of the obsessive tale; the reader while finding Brid somewhat annoying after plaguing Alain for over 50 years, can understand her bewilderment over aging Alan's puzzling behavior when defending his frazzled family from her, and commiserate with both their mutual attraction for one another and Alan's disgust with himself as he falls prey over and over again to Brid's charms. After three generarions of daunting pursuit and umpteen pages, it is to the reader's great relief that with the help of a powerful present day druid and Alan's grandchild, Brid's claim on Alan can finally be loosened and Brid's own immortal soul released from her uncle's grasp.
Although I enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down, I must say I enjoyed Erskine's earlier works much more. In particular, "House of Shadows" certainly pricked those tiny hairs off the back of my neck! Even so, "On the Edge of Darkness" succeeds in eliciting sometimes fright-fraught emotions for both protagonists---even if these emotions are a bit disturbing----which stay with the reader after the book has been closed and put down.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Obsession at its best, May 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: On the Edge of Darkness (Mass Market Paperback)

This was an excellent edition to my collection of Barbara Erskine tales.

Adam is a troubled 14-year old in the Scottish Highlands when he meets Brid and they become friends. What he doesn't know is she is a Druid from many centuries ago. They become even closer as the years pass, eventually becoming lovers. As Adam gets older and moves on with his life, going away to school and getting married, Brid is confused and consumed with jealousy that she has been abandoned. Her curse follows Adam's family for two generations until it is broken by Adam's granddaughter.

This tale wasn't as creepy as other novels by this auther (House of Echoes or Midnight is a Lonely Place) but it had a very compelling supernatural element. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its wonderful imagery, characters I grew to love (or, in Brid's case, sympathize with) and the sense of romance in both the location and the relationships.

If you're an Erskine fan already you are in for a treat and if not, this is a great book to get hooked...