Green Darkness

By: Anya Seton

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

Green Darkness is the story of a great love, a love in which mysticism, suspense, and mystery form a web of good and evil forces that stretches from Tudor England to the England of the 20th century. The marriage of the Englishman Richard Marsdon and his young American wife, Celia, slowly turns tragic as Richard withdraws into himself and Celia suffers a debilitating emotional breakdown.

A wise mystic realizes that Celia can escape her past only by reliving it. She journeys back 400 years to her former life as the servant girl Celia de Bohun during the reign of Edward VI - and to her doomed love affair with the chaplain Stephen Marsdon. Although Celia and Stephen can't escape the horrifying consequences of their love, fate (and time) offer them another chance for redemption.

©1972 Anya Seton Chase (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Anya Seton has a knack of vividly painting the glory, cruelty, passion, and prejudice of long-ago days." ( Hartford Courant)

Reread it every couple of years

I owned a paperback copy of this book since I was in high school (a long, long time ago). I loved it so much that I would reread it every couple of years until it literally fell apart. The story of a priest falling in love is poignant and heartbreaking. Their deaths are tragic, 200 years later their love culminates in the lives of 2 young people who do not understand how the past can influence the present and future.

One of my favorites!

Would you consider the audio edition of Green Darkness to be better than the print version?

I've re-read this book many, many times but this was the first time I listened to it on Audible and I loved the reader/performer's accents and pronounciation. In many ways I prefer the audio version because it's so easy to get lost in the story when you don't have to wonder how to pronounce places and things.

What does Heather Wilds bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Heather Wilds did a wonderful job - she brought an old favorite back to life for me.

My absolute favorite book

This book hastens you in right from the beginning. It is historical romance but of a superior quality. It has all the ingredients of the occult, but so perfectly done. It's about a forbidden love affair and the ultimate horror caused by it. It explores reincarnation, astrology, witchcraft and jealousy, that severe emotion. I read this book 3 times since it came out in 1973. I loved the original book cover, a monk and a young woman in the green darkness of the woods. But the woods do not protect them. Kathleen Collins

Green Darkness

I first read this story in short form in 1972. I loved it so much I wanted to read the whole thing so I bought The complete book this has been my favorite since I first read it so many years ago. I've read it I don't know how many times and now I'm glad to have it in my audible library.

In a past life, I loved just as much…

I found this book in our library decades ago in my small catholic school. The story and concepts made a significant impact upon my life. My own Stephan was introduced into my life a year later and now, can’t in and out if my life throughout decades and now I have convinced him to read this book as well. I enjoyed the story yet again and cannot wait to hear his thoughts as it resonates upon his soul.