When she at last broke the silence between us, her voice had lost none of its authority. It was as if by her very will she would summon something-or someone-to appear. Sometimes the intentness of her stare made me shiver and pull my shawl the closer. Though I sat beside her during those last hours, she never reached out her hand, nor turned her head in my direction, but ever surveyed the lane. She had been tempered, as a craftsman works with his material, by scandal, reputed dishonor, petty spite, until she had become a living legend.

Instead she sat in a high-backed chair, upright in her iron-willed pride, ever watching the muddied snow of the lane which led from our manor landing, as if she had some reason to believe what she must face would come from that direction. As had that greatest of queens, that formidable English Elizabeth, Lydia Wyllyses Harrach refused to meet Death a bed-fast victim.

My grandmother died on the last day of March while a raw wind found a way through window crevices to stir curtains she would not have drawn. Moreover, they said Amelia’s father was a bastard. Then came the news that her grandfather was indeed alive and ready to acknowledge Amelia’s legitimacy, and make her heiress to a great fortune in Germany.Īnd so began a journey-a journey into horror and evil that would endanger Amelia and her fortune. Suddenly, she was trapped in a world of drugs and nightmares. But the treacherous way to freedom lay ahead-and so did love. With the love of readers and the praise of critics, Norton’s books have sold millions of copies worldwide.Īmelia could never have known that the necklace-the delicate filigree butterflies of dead black iron-would become the yoke that could drag her down to death.Īmelia Harrach lived with a name blackened by scandal. They said her grandmother’s marriage to a captive Hessian officer during the American Revolution had been false. Few authors have achieved such renown as World Fantasy Life Achievement honoree and Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Andre Norton.

Iron cage andre norton