It is Palm Sunday 1461 and the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil is about to take place outside the village of Towton. It is one of a series of engagements between the houses of York and Lancaster. The world when younger was more brightly coloured and its ecstasies and tortures more fiercely endured. But, ever since the Dolorous Stroke and the Showing of the Grail in the days of King Arthur, England has lain under a curse. So many have died that Hell is now full and, consequently, the dead stalk the land. Anthony Woodville, Lord Scales, having been killed at Towton, is vouchsafed the first of many strange visions before being resurrected. From then on adventures come running after him like hungry dogs. The real world is a poor thing compared to the stories that are told about it. Anthony hears or takes part in many stories, and those stories are porous, so that men and monsters move easily in and out of them. The stories that Anthony encounters have only one purpose and it is not a good one. AUTHOR: Robert Irwin (born 1946) is a novelist, historian, critic and scholar. He is a fellow of The Royal Society of Literature. He is the author of seven novels: 'The Arabian Nightmare' (1983), 'The Limits of Vision' (1986), 'The Mysteries of Algiers' (1988), 'Exquisite Corpse' (1995), 'Prayer-Cushions of the Flesh' (1997), 'Satan Wants Me' (1999) and 'Wonders Will Never Cease' (2016). All his novels have enjoyed substantial publicity and commercial success although he is best known for 'The Arabian Nightmare' which has been translated into twenty languages and is considered by many critics to be one of the great literary fantasy novels of the twentieth century.