I found this book exciting and hard to put down. It is not quite like the usual gothic romance, in that romance doesn't constitute the whole story and the solution, although it is certainly part of the plot. In that way, it resembles the Ghost and Mrs. Muir, which Josephine Leslie wrote under the pseudonym R.A. Dick.

The story begins in 1807 with the 12-year-old Danielle Bellaires. Abandoned by her father after her mother's death in child birth, she is unhappily in the care of her father's sister-in-law. Rebelling, she finds sanctuary in two marriages, each happy in their own way, but each ending with her widowhood. Along the way, the devil causes her to be always 30, as long as she wants to live, although she never actually agrees to his bargain. This sets up an issue raised throughout the book: is silence assent? Is it enough not to agree to something, or must it be explicitly rejected?

Danielle can never be entirely at peace, either, as she constantly flees when people begin to notice that she never ages and, in order to hide, gives up her family, fortune, and home. She goes to Europe, America, and Australia in her constant wanderings, finally coming home to England and her descendents.

I found it a grippng story, interesting in having only a few real villains, except of course for the Father of Lies. Many of the unlikeable people reveal a likeable side; the battle is more with personal integrity than with people. It goes beyond the usual gothic in leaving the reader to ponder several issues of morality, guilt and innocence, which the writer has left somewhat ambiguous. In that way, it is a profounder book than Mrs. Muir.

There were two things I didn't like, but other readers may view differently. I did not like the characters' moaning about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket. I am not sure that people were ever much more moral, and one could certainly find severe criticism about the Regency, which takes up the most time in the book. One of the problems with modern times seems to be that the lower orders don't know their place: I can't sympathize with that one.

The other issue is one that I know many will disagree with. In this book, the Devil is not a seductive figure, bearing more resemblance to a stalker. On the other hand, God is not too attractive either. He is so much more remote and less interested in human beings than his opponent. I have discussed this subject in other situation with people of more faith than I, and I know that they will not see it that way, so I leave it to each individual reader. ( )