Those Rosy Hours at Mazandaran

A young woman confronts her own dark desires, and finds her match in a masked conjurer turned assassin. Inspired by Gaston LeRoux'sThe Phantom of the Opera, Marion Grace Woolley takes us on forbidden adventures through a time that has been written out of history books.

"Those days are buried beneath the mists of time. I was the first, you see. The very first daughter. There would be many like me to come. Svelte little figures, each with saffron skin and wide, dark eyes. Every one possessing a voice like honey, able to twist the santur strings of our father's heart."

It begins with a rumour, an exciting whisper. Anything to break the tedium of the harem for the Shah's eldest daughter. People speak of a man with a face so vile it would make a hangman faint, but a voice as sweet as an angel's kiss. A master of illusion and stealth. A masked performer, known only as Vachon. For once, the truth will outshine the tales.

On her birthday, the Shah gifts his eldest daughter Afsar a circus. With the circus comes a man who will change everything.

Note: Mature subject matter

---

Reviews

"A sumptuous dark treat of a novel, will keep you shocked and enthralled until the very last page." - Will Davis, author of The Trapeze Artist

"A long, dark night of the soul from which no one emerges unscathed. Mesmerizing." - Salome Jones, author of Red Phone Box

"Rising from the cracks and hints in Gaston Leroux's classic, Those Rosy Hours delivers a striking and glorious original historical fantasy that sings across time from the heart of a lost empire." - David Southwell, author of The Phoenix Guide to Strange England: Hookland

"...evocative and gripping. I missed several tube stops thanks to my immersion in [Those Rosy Hours]..." - Kate Harrad, author of All Lies and Jest

"The opening lines are a spell, drawing the reader in to what will turn out to be a dark place..." - 5 Minutes For Books

About the Author

Marion Grace Woolley is the author of three previous novels and a collection of short stories.In 2009, she was shortlisted for the Luke Bitmead Bursary for New Writers. She balances her creative impulses with a career in International Development; she has worked and travelled across Africa, Australia, Armenia, and a few other places beginning with 'A'. She is an associate member of the Society of Authors, and is currently at work on her fifth novel.