Books

Griffin Andrew Meade, 18 years old, moves to Bartholomew Bay, Maine with his family in 1983 into Antioch, the ancestral mansion of the wealthy Bartholomew family, and soon discovers it is haunted by the spirit of Angelus Bartholomew III, who died when he fell from the Widow’s walk of Antioch in 1919, when he was 18 years old. Griffin learns that some of the towns people believe that Angelus was pushed from the Widow’s walk by his abusive father, the powerful Angus Bartholomew, and didn’t commit suicide by leaping from the Widow’s walk as the cause of death stated. Soon thereafter, the ghost of Angelus contacts Griffin and reveals through erotic flashbacks the story of the life he and his paramour Lazarus Benedictine, the son of the lighthouse keeper of Bartholomew Bay, lived until his untimely death. While Griffin becomes acquainted with Angelus and Lazarus's secret romance, he becomes involved with his first same sex romance, Christian Gutmann, also 18 years old and raised in Bartholomew Bay, that only knows part of the story of Angelus Bartholomew's death. While living in Antioch, Angelus's spirit unleashes a series of deadly acts that not only reveal his "malevolent" nature but his intentions towards Griffin: that he is to a play a vital role in a scheme to re-unite Lazarus, who is still alive, with Angelus in the afterlife. Griffin is faced with the decision to either participate in Angelus’s plot or more of his loved ones will suffer deadly consequences, including his family and first boyfriend Christian. These intersecting stories of Griffin Meade and Angelus Bartholomew III, of the sacrifices we make for our loved ones, are set respectively during the turbulent early 1980’s, when the gay rights movement increased its visibility in reaction to the AIDS crisis, and the earliest years of the 20th century when same sex relationships were not only immoral but also illegal.