In the splendid tradition of Penmarric, The Shrouded Walls and The Dark Shore, these two superb Gothic novels are filled with all the power, passion and intrigue that characterize Susan Howatch's writing. In THE WAITING SANDS, lovely Rachel Lord receives an urgent invitation to visit her old school friend Decima. With her husband Charles Mannering, Decima lives at Roshven, her family's ancestral estate on the savage coast of Scotland. Rachel finds her friend greatly changed from the carefree girl she once knew. As soon as they are alone, Decima confesses that Charles is planning to kill her; that he married her only to inherit Roshven, which will be his if she dies before she is twenty-one. With her birthday only a few days away, Decima is terrified. However, Rachel soon hears other rumors: that Decima has not only been flagrantly unfaithful to Charles, but she is losing her grip on reality. Torn between her affection for her friend and what her common sense tells her must be the truth, Rachel finds her own terror mounting at the fateful approach of Decima's birthday... THE DEVIL ON LAMMAS NIGHT is a compelling and perverse story of human love manipulated for evil purposes. Nicola Morrison, desperately longing to forget her frustrating love affair with Evan Colwyn, welcomes the attentions of a handsome, brooding stranger who suddenly enters her life. Tristan Poole presents himself as an expert in natural foods. Actually he is a satanist, leader of a coven of practicing witches. Before she realizes what is happening, Nicola finds herself spiraled into a timeless, spaceless world of strange shapes and exquisite sounds...a sensual paradise in the arms of Satan's disciple. When Evan tries to bring her to her senses, he soon becomes the object of Poole's occult practices - while Nicola, confused by what she thinks is love for Tristan, is unaware that she has been chosen as the living sacrifice for the Devil's black wedding mass on Lammas Night.