Ferney

A novel for anyone who's ever believed that two people are destined for each other, that passion has no end, and that true love never dies...
It was an accidental detour inspired by one of Gally's frequent panic attacks that sent her husband, Mike, down a twisting lane to the abandoned country cottage. From the moment she saw it, Gally felt a peace she hadn't known in years and the inexplicable sense that she had finally come home. As her husband works at their new home's restoration, Gally finds herself growing unexpectedly close to an eighty-three-year-old man named Ferney. How could she become so attached to a virtual stranger? And why does Ferney seem to know her better than she knows herself? Through Ferney's old stories Gally finds herself transported to a distant past where two lovers made a vow even death could not break. Soon Gally will face a life-and-death dilemma that has followed her and Ferney down through the centuries. It will be a moment of decision that will forever change not only their lives but the lives of all they touch. Read more Continue reading Read less REVIEW
"A lyrical and passionate tale."
-- BOOKLIST

"A bittersweet story, Ferney leaves the reader with hope that in the darkest night, those who stay with their principles will be rewarded with the brightest light. Mr. Long has written a special, different novel."
-- Midwest Book Review

"Engrossing...complex...provocative."
-- Publishers Weekly

"A story of love and self-discovery that resonates across the ages."
-- Nicholas Evans author of The Horse Whisperer


Look for the next James Long novel

Silence and Shadows

Coming in spring 2001 FROM THE INSIDE FLAP
anyone who's ever believed that two people are destined for each other, that passion has no end, and that true love never dies...
It was an accidental detour inspired by one of Gally's frequent panic attacks that sent her husband, Mike, down a twisting lane to the abandoned country cottage. From the moment she saw it, Gally felt a peace she hadn't known in years and the inexplicable sense that she had finally come home. As her husband works at their new home's restoration, Gally finds herself growing unexpectedly close to an eighty-three-year-old man named Ferney. How could she become so attached to a virtual stranger? And why does Ferney seem to know her better than she knows herself? Through Ferney's old stories Gally finds herself transported to a distant past where two lovers made a vow even death could not break. Soon Gally will face a life-and-death dilemma that has followed her and Ferney down through the centuries. It will be a moment of decision th FROM THE BACK COVER
"A lyrical and passionate tale."
-- Booklist

"A bittersweet story, Ferney leaves the reader with hope that in the darkest night, those who stay with their principles will be rewarded with the brightest light. Mr. Long has written a special, different novel."
-- Midwest Book Review

"Engrossing...complex...provocative."
-- Publishers Weekly

"A story of love and self-discovery that resonates across the ages."
-- Nicholas Evans author of The Horse Whisperer


Look for the next James Long novel

Silence and Shadows

Coming in spring 2001
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Long is the author of four acclaimed thrillers in England. Ferney is his American debut. A former BBC correspondent, he lives in England. EXCERPT. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Gally felt safe inside the house and though she turned quickly when she heard Mike's gasp, she was not nearly so startled by the old man's sudden presence as he was. When they shared their impressions afterwards she found herself unable to tell Mike the complete truth. They both saw the same man, and on a physical level they both recorded the same information. He was shorter than Mike, a shade under six feet tall, and if his age had started to shrink him, so far it seemed only to have condensed his vitality into a more concentrated form. He looked fit and weathered and his eyes of seafaring blue had escaped the watery weakening of the years. They burned from a face that was tanned and sculpted by the wind over strong cheekbones and a square jaw. Hair flecked dark amongst the grey might have led you to guess his age at somewhere in the sixties and miss the target by a score of years.

Mike saw an authority that made him feel callow, tongue-tied and defensive. Feeling they had been caught where they had no right to be, his own uncertainty sketched a fierceness onto his image of the man's face that, by any objective standard, was certainly not there. Mike felt like an urban intruder. The man who stood staring at him looked as if he owned the place--and not just the house, perhaps, but everywhere round about.

Gally was a searcher of faces. In London she would scan crowds restlessly, incessantly, in shops, on the underground or simply walking down the street. In the first few seconds of Ferney's appearance in her life, she decided there was more to find in this man's face than in any she had ever seen before. Afterwards, when she had time to sort out the tumult he raised in her, she remembered patience coupled with strength; a philosopher king with a sword in one hand and a book of verse in the other. That sounded fanciful enough, but what she really couldn't tell Mike was that a certainty had come bursting into her the moment she'd seen him that this was someone important whom she had been hoping to see for a long time, as if a favourite uncle had finally returned from years abroad.

The old man said nothing and Gally recovered her wits first. "I'm sorry," she told him. "We were just being nosy. Is this yours?"

He continued to weigh her impassively, then his gaze softened a fraction. "No," he said. "Not now."

She smiled at him. "I love it," she said. "It's just . . . well, beautiful."

He looked aro