The Half Torn Page

The Half Torn Page by David Palin 17th Century Bavaria – Ilsa Wlich, a striking, mysterious woman of indeterminate age and steeped in lore, ancient and modern, arrives one fateful evening in the beautiful, but remote town of Reimersberg at the end of the Adventurer’s Road. The town, deep in the mountains and wolf-inhabited forests of the Valley of the Witches, is seldom reached by outsiders and not particularly welcoming to them. Proud of their traditions, the people frown upon change and those who bring it. Ilsa saves the life of a sick boy, Karl, but is suspicious of the cause of his illness; a fact she keeps from the townsfolk for fear of causing panic. She earns the boy’s undying love, but also the enmity of some Town Elders, in particular the incompetent doctor and the mayor, Meister. Both feel as threatened by Ilsa as she feels wary of them. Weary in mind and body from years of travelling, still charmed by the old town and some of its friendlier inhabitants, but also concerned for their safety, Ilsa asks to settle in Reimersberg. Her presence there awakens a long-hidden darkness and her own future is put at risk by those who suspect her of being a witch. She finds herself, together with Karl, treading paths far more mysterious, bloody and perilous than anything the Adventurer’s Road could conjure if they are to survive. Described by readers as ‘a fantastic and atmospheric read’, ‘a Grimm tale for our times’, and reminiscent of Philip Pullman and JRR Tolkien.