Science fiction, myth, time travel and Shakespearean wit and playfulness combine
in a stunning sequence of huge imaginative power - the Shakespeare Quartet ...T
he Speed of Darkness concludes the series which began with The Obsidian Mirror,
then moved on through The Box of Red Brocade and The Door in the Moon. In this f
inal volume, a great storm brews out at sea and batters the Devon coast, floodin
g vast swathes of land. At Wintercombe Abbey the preceding weeks have been spent
in a ferment of experimentation, as Jake Wilde's father, David and Maskelyne wo
rk furiously on Operation Leah.
They have been practising changing tiny event
s in the past, in preparation for the rescue of Venn's wife Leah from death, the
culmination of their work with the Obsidian Mirror. But in the aftermath of the
storm, the Abbey is a drowned house. Where is the Mirror? What has happened to
the two halves of the Janus coin? Whose is the mysterious boat wrecked up on the
nearby beach? And what plans of mischief and mayhem lay in store for Halloween
- the day chosen for Leah's return?