This is one of my favorite books. The premise is that on the eve of Hitler's planned invasion of England, the witches of England were summoned together to work magic to turn him away.

At the heart of the story is the deep friendship between an English prince and the military intelligence agent who is the male leader of a coven, and the ancient tradition of the king sacrifice, in which royal blood is willingly spilled for the good of the land.

The author weaves a suspenseful, moving story that combines espionage, magic, and a variety of human relationships. Even a person who doesn't credit the idea of magic or the king sacrifice (which is a popular legend, but has no basis in provable history) can enjoy this story. ( )

It's 1940, and Britain's war against Nazi Germany isn't going well. The British Expeditionary Force has been evacuated from Dunkirk back to England, and while the evacuation was a success, it was also a retreat. Hitler is planning an invasion of Britain, and the British military and political leadership really don't know how they're going to mount an effective defense.

Col. Sir John Graham, "Gray" to his friends and family, is a military intelligence officer--and also a high-ranking member of an occult group, practitioners of the Britain's traditional, ancient rites. This group, the Oakwood group, and other occult groups in Britain, are planning their own response to Hitler's invasion plans. This includes responding, more directly than conventional military forces can, to Hitler's own occult assault on Britain and Britain's military forces.

In addition to his occult colleagues, Graham has another dear friend--Prince William, Duke of Clarence, the (fictional) twin brother of King George V's youngest son, John, who died at age fourteen. This close friendship is going to lead to some serious complications as the Oakwood group works to organized a unified British occult response to Hitler.

Gray, with few trusted close friends outside of the Oakwood group, which is basically his family--son, father-in-law, nephew, niece, brother-in-law and sister-in-law--turns to his friend Prince William to talk about some of his stress over lack of success in recruiting other occult groups to work in coordination with the Oakwood group. This is the first time he's actually told William that his occult involvement goes beyond party tricks and trying to extract useful military information from Hitler's known occult activities, and he tries to keep that to a minimum. William, though, becomes seriously interested, especially after Gray tells him that he's cast both their astrological charts, and they may have known each other in a previous life.

Over the next weeks and months, William becomes more involved and aware, while Gray tries everything he can to build the cooperation Britain needs among its occultists. Gray's efforts include a memory regression to find out how Sir Francis Drake managed to bring the occult groups of England together in a Grand Coven to stop the Spanish Armada. Gray, we learn, was Drake, in one of his previous lives. We also get hints that William, in a former life, was also there.

There's a tangle of surprises and revelations as the story unfolds. Gray and William have been connected in many previous lives--and it's in those previous lives, and their connection, that they find the answer to what they need to do.

Along the way, we also meet the agent, a former member of the Oakwood group, who infiltrated one of the Nazi covens, one very close to Hitler. Dieter is a very skilled ceremonial magician, and German, and Gray and others are, with reason, no longer sure they can trust him.

Yet they may not be able to do what they need to do without trusting him.

This is an extremely well done alternate, or perhaps hidden, historical novel. The characters are all very well done. Kurtz also treats all the faiths represented here with respect, not feeling the need some see to disdain some to respect the others.

It's been many years since I first read this, and I was hesitant to pick it up again after so long. Many fondly remembered books turn out not to quite so excellent as one remembers them. This one, though, I find u have rather more appreciation for it than I did when I first read it.

Highly recommended.

I bought this book. ( )

I thought I had read this before - I rated it - but none of it sounded familiar, except inasmuch as the style of magic detailed is rather similar to that of the Adept and the Hunting Circle. It's a very rich, rather dark story of occultists (their choice of neutral word) working to save Britain during WWII, in the world of Kurtz's Adept. Hitler's black magicians, and Hitler himself, are the opposition; on Britain's side is everyone from Freemasons to witches to Druids. Our heroes are trying to get them all to work together, to block the German invasion that's clearly in preparation. Prince William gets involved, with the authority of being of the sacred line of kings - and the duties and consequences of his choices that follow. Solid characters, very rich story on many levels. In an afterword, she mentions that nothing she invented conflicts with the historical record - there are several points where her characters are only speculating, and of course their own actions are not in any record - but there are records of a good many events that are described or referenced in the book. Good, rich, glad I read it, but I don't like it quite as much as I do the Adept books. I'm pleased it's been re-released as an ebook, from Open Road Media - I got a copy from them in return for a review (when it was released, in 2016), but I also owned the paper book from an earlier release. ( )

A classic novel of occult forces in World War II.

The witches, occultists, and Druids of Britain must band together to counter Hitler's black magicians and avert an invasion. But the price may be higher than they are willing to pay. All of the characters are fictional, but the events may have some basis in fact.

Recommended. ( )

A very, very good look at the world from the point of view of ceremonial magick. What if there were a group of magicians/witches who helped keep Hitler from invading the shores of the Isle of the Mighty? Also included is a fictional Prince of the Realm, and enough detail to keep the most curious enthralled. ( )