THE WITCHING HOUR - Anne Rice

Rowan Mayfair is a beautiful, successful neurosurgeon with an extraordinary power to heal - or to harm. While sailing off the California coast, she rescues a drowning man, Michael Curry. But Michael's brush with death leaves him with a terrifying psychic ability and disturbing images that drive him back to his, and Rowan's, native New Orleans.

As the two gradually unravel the secret of Michael's strange gift and Rowan's hidden past, their love story is interwoven with the history of the rich and powerful Mayfair family - a history of three centuries of incest, violence and dark sensuality.

And at the heart of the mystery is the seductive, evil and increasingly potent spirit with whom Michael and Rowan are inescapably linked. His name is Lasher, and he is the lover of witches. Rowan is the 13th withc and the strongest of the witches - the doorway through which he can finally consummate his insatiable desire.

1207 pages paperback. Published 1991.

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