The Widow of Ratchets

First USA edition, first impression with full number line. Some edge wear to top and bottom of jacket and spine, some small 'scraped' patches to front jacket (removal of old sticky label?), corners slightly rubbed, not price clipped ($10.00), no inscriptions, internally clean tight and almost square, overall a vg+ copy for its age. 318pp. The slightly supernatural and highly ominous story of American Lyndsay Kramer Dolben, an attractive newlywed who arrives in England to rejoin her husband only to be immediately informed of his recent death. Overcome with grief, the young widow travels to Ratchets, the remote village where Michael's family has lived for centuries. But even before the funeral arrangements are completed, Lyndsay begins to suspect that the traditions of the town and its inhabitants, especially their unorthodox reverence for the Land, are frightening and peculiar. The unravelling of these ancient and bloody fertility rituals and incestuous primitive taboos keeps her intellectually and emotionally occupied for the remainder of this gripping story. Through Lyndsay's eyes and actions we come to understand the formidable powers of the earth. Owen Brookes (a possible pseudonym of American fantasy and horror writer Dean R. Koontz), has written a masterful tour de force, an occult novel at once seductive and authentic, in character and plot. Quite a scarce book.…