SACRED COMBE

Samuel Browne is set adrift when his marriage to the mysterious Sarah falls apart, and with his life and career in banking at a crossroads, he answers an enigmatic advertisement to act as a volunteer archivist in a private library. He meets Arnold Comberbache and so begins 17 weeks of an adventure that will change his perception of life forever. In a wonderfully atmospheric country house, Samuel is instructed to search for a lost letter which could be hidden in any of the books in Arnold's magnificent library. The cold but characterful old house is remote and encircled by hills, the setting for a story about books, reading, birds and climbing, opening the reader to reflections on life and death with reflections on the sciences as well as the arts by this clearly well read bibliophile author. 293pp.