Dark Maiden

By Norma Lehr

Sheila Miller's newborn baby is gone. His death certificate is stamped SIDS, but Sheila knows her Timmy did not die in his crib from natural causes --he was taken. But no one believes Sheila's tale of standing helpless while amysterious veiled woman hovered over the crib. Karl, Sheila's rigid, insensitivehusband, openly scoffs at the supernatural and is convinced Sheila isemotionally ill. Her Aunt Iris -- a sensual, counter-culture writer and acontinuum of the sixties who loves her niece dearly -- can't accept thestory even though she wishes with all her heart she could. At least Iris is apositive, supportive force in Sheila's life and gives her a needed refuge in hermountain cabin. But as a series of bizarre incidents destroy innocent peoplelinked to Sheila, those closest to her -- including Chad Olsen, a studentof Eastern philosophy to whom Sheila is inexplicably drawn -- listen when aChinese legend historian reveals a terrifying story involving a white jadeamulet and a ferocious fox-maiden, an entity determined to destroySheila.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809557800
• ISBN13: 9780809557806
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Deliciously dark fantasy

Dark Maiden is the kind of story I love -- the kind that raises the hair on the back of my neck. It's not so scary I would call it horror, but it's definitely a dark fantasy. The author moves the story through different points of view, which allows the reader to get into the heads of all the characters -- at least the human ones! Norma begins the story with a bang, and keeps it moving from beginning to end. It's dynamic writing, believable characters, and a premise to keep you wondering!

an enthralling and entertaining dark fantasy

Everyone says that Sheila Miller's son Timmy died of SIDS but she knows an Asian woman sucked the soul out of her infant. Her husband Karl believes she hallucinated seeing an Asian woman as a means of projecting her feelings of guilt onto someone else; and had her hospitalized for three months. When she gets out they move to Auburn to be near her Aunt Iris. When she arrives there she meets Chad Olson and they both have immediate feelings for one another as if they knew one another in a previous life. Sheila starts hallucinating about a Chinese massacre that happened near the mine on the property. Chad is obsessed about opening up the mine and digging for artifacts. Sheila begins to hear sound and seen Asian woman and she starts blacking out. She doesn't remember what she did but those around her got hurt or killed. Chad sees a giant fox following Sheila around but she thinks he is seeing things. Sheila's psychiatrist from the hospital contacts the Wus and shows them a drawing she made while in the hospital. The elder Wu has an identical amulet and tells thr doctor that Sheila's condition is explained by a supernatural being and if it is not stopped, Sheila will cease to exist DARK MAIDEN is an enthralling and entertaining dark fantasy that will bewitch readers with its hypnotic storyline. Readers will empathize with Sheila who has to cope with the loss of a child and supernatural attacks. Norma Lehr is a talented writer who somehow makes the events that take place in this tale as believable as her characters who behave in plausible manners. Once the audience learns what motivates each of them it is exciting reading about their encounter with and how they react to the supernatural.. Harriet Klausner