Black Magic

A fascinating occult literature classic, Marjorie Bowen's Black Magic has the story of rise and fall of Anti-Christ movement deftly filled with living images of corrupted nuns, satanic rituals, spells, demons, intensely unscruplus church, violent thunderstorms, love triangles, witches, ghosts, medieval opulence, violence, comets, and much more. Her Heros face the trial of marching on Rome to fight the devil-driven pope to save the Christianity and the people who have their faith on Christ. "In the large room of a house in a certain quiet city in Flanders, a man was gilding a devil" the first line of this story lifts the curtain to take the reader to a thrilling time-travel. Dirk Renswoude, a craftsman of noble birth, mistreated in some way by his family, meets Thierry, a young scholar on his way to study at the university at Basle and they soon discover that they have a shared fascination for black magic. The story has a very gripping plot and well developed characters which makes this book one of the finest gothic novels. Marjorie Bowen (pseudonym of Mrs Gabrielle Margaret V[ere] Long née Campbell), was a British author who wrote historical romances, supernatural horror stories, popular history and biography. Bowen had a difficult childhood; her alcoholic father left the family at an early age and was eventually found dead on a London street. She and her sister grew up in poverty with a less than affectionate mother. Bowen studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and later in Paris. Her first novel, the violent historical The Viper of Milan was rejected by several publishers, who considered it inappropriate for a young woman to have written such a novel. It went on to become a best-seller when eventually published. She was married twice: first, from 1912 to 1916, to a Sicilian, Zefferino Emilio Constanza, who died of tuberculosis, and then to Arthur L. Long. Bowen had four children; a son and a daughter (who died in infancy) with Costanza, and two sons with Long. In 1938, Bowen was one of the signatories to a petition organised by the National Peace Council, calling for an international peace conference in an effort to avert war in Europe. Her total output numbers over 160 volumes with the bulk of her work under the 'Bowen' pseudonym. She also wrote under the names Joseph Shearing, George R. Preedy, John Winch, Robert Paye and Margaret Campbell. After The Viper of Milan (1906), she produced a steady stream of writings until the day of her death. Bowen also wrote history books aimed at a popular readership. Her books are much sought after by aficionados of gothic horror and received praise from critics. Graham Greene stated in his Paris Review interview in 1953, "I chose Marjorie Bowen because as I have told you, I don't think that the books that one reads as an adult influence one as a writer...But books such as Marjorie Bowen's, read at a young age, do influence one considerably." Horror reviewer Robert Hadji described Bowen as "one of the great supernatural writers of this century". Fritz Leiber referred to "Marjorie Bowen's brilliant Black Magic". Jessica Amanda Salmonson, discussing The Last Bouquet, described Bowen's prose as "stylish and moody, dramatic to the highest degree" and stated "what in other hands is merely tacky or gross is, from Marjorie Bowen, a superior art, chilling and seductive". Sally Benson in The New Yorker, discussing the "Joseph Shearing" books: "Mr Shearing is a painstaking researcher, a superb writer, a careful technician, and a master of horror. There is no one else quite like him". Will Cuppy stated "Those who want a good workout of the more perilous emotions will do well to read Mr. Shearing's impressive tale of love, death and doom... Join the Shearing cult and meet one of the most malevolent females in song or story". In an article about women writers, the Australian newspaper The Courier-Mail described Bowen as "one of the best of our modern novelists"