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About Bellman & Black: A Novel
Product Description #1 New York Times bestselling author “An astonishing work of genius.” —Bookreporter “Magically transformative.” —Bookpage Can one moment in time haunt you forever? From the instant #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Thirteenth Tale comes a “poetic and mysterious” (Booklist) story that will haunt you to your very core. Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. It is a small but cruel act, and is soon forgotten. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to have put the whole incident behind him. It was as if he never killed the thing at all. But rooks don’t forget… Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William’s life, his fortunes begin to turn—and the terrible and unforeseen consequences of his past indiscretion take root. In a desperate bid to save the only precious thing he has left, he enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner. Together, they found a decidedly macabre business. And Bellman & Black is born. Review "An astonishing work of genius." ― Bookreporter.com "Magically transformative . . . . Quite simply, Setterfield has done it again." ― Bookpage "Poetic and mysterious." ― Booklist "A gothic psychological study with the dark vibe of an Edgar Allen Poe tale . . . . Fans will snatch this one up." ― Library Journal (starred review) "With echoes of Dickens, Poe, and Grimm, Setterfield's tale offers fascinating historical details even as it raises the hairs on the back of the reader's neck." ― Shelf Awareness "Eerie, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking." ― Popcorn Reads "Hypnotic . . . . moody, atmospheric, and lyrical. Setterfield builds the suspense so finely thta I was surprised at the tension in my body." ― The Moveable Feast About the Author Diane Setterfield is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Thirteenth Tale, and a former academic, specializing in twentieth-century French literature, particularly the works of Andre Gide. She lives in Oxford, England. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Bellman & Black CHAPTER ONE Six days out of every seven the area along the Burford Road resounded with the clattering, booming, clanging, rattling, thundering noise of Bellman’s Mill. The shuttles that hurtled back and forth were the very least of it: there was also the churning, crashing roar of the Windrush as it turned the wheel that powered all this hectic to-ing and fro-ing. Such was the racket that at the end of the day, when the shuttles were brought home to rest and the mill wheel ceased to turn, the ears of the workers still rang with the vibration of it all. This ringing stayed with them as they made their way to their small cottages, was still there as they climbed into their beds at night, and as often as not, continued to sound through their dreams. Birds and other small creatures stayed away from Bellman’s Mill, at least on working days. Only the rooks were bold enough to fly over the mill, seeming to relish its clamor, even adding a coarse note of their own to the music. Today though, being Sunday, the mill was peaceful. On the other side of the Windrush and down the high street, the humans were making noise of another kind. A rook—or a crow, it is hard to tell them apart—alighted with aplomb on the roof of the church, cocked its head, and listened. “Oh come and dwell in me, Spirit of power within, and bring the glorious liberty from sorrow, fear, and sin.” In the first verse of the hymn, the congregation was tuneless and disorganized as a herd of sheep on market day. Some treated it as a competition where the loudest wins all. Some, having better things to do with their time than sing, rushed to the end as quickly as they could, while others, afraid of getting ahead of themselves, lagged a safe semiquaver behind. Alongside
