Book description
Gifford knows that he must get away. London, his office job, his
suburban home and his older wife have become unendurable. Then comes the
answer in Callender, whom he meets in a pub and who offers him the job
of handyman on a remote island. But once there doubts began to creep in.
What has become of his predecessor, Mackie? Why has all the furniture
been moved out of Mackie's cottage and into the one he now occupies?
What secret lies inside the power house, which he has been forbidden to
enter? There is some dreadful mystery behind the isolated community on
the island, and he realises that his own safety depends on remaining
ignorant of the truth: that Mackie disappeared because he knew too much
. . . Praised by critics for his clean prose style, characterization,
and the strong sense of place in his novels, Philip Maitland Hubbard was
born in Reading, in Berkshire and brought up in Guernsey, in the Channel
Islands. He was educated at Oxford, where he won the Newdigate Prize for
English verse in 1933. From 1934 until its disbandment in 1947 he served
with the Indian Civil service. On his return to England he worked for
the British Council, eventually retiring to work as a freelance writer.
He contributed to a number of publications, including Punch, and wrote
16 novels for adults as well as two children's books. He lived in Dorset
and Scotland, and many of his novels draw on his interest in and
knowledge of rural pursuits and folk religion.
