T.J. Laverne

Young Erol Turpin stumbles upon a mysterious old sword in a strange wood while on a hunting party, and becomes alarmingly ill. Eleven years later, in the summer of 1787, Erol is a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and returns home to Sussex, England to visit his elder brother, Edwin. As brothers, Edwin and Erol are as different as night and day: Edwin is charming and wears his heart on his sleeve, and Erol is studious and aloof. But when a Navy friend comes to visit, bringing along his independent sister, Zoë Smollett, the Turpin brothers unknowingly begin to fall for the same woman, drawing Erol unwillingly away from his books and Edwin willingly to her side. Yet as events unfold, the mysterious past of the rusty, old sword Erol discovered all those years ago begins to threaten the course of all their lives.

 

T.J. Laverne's debut novel, Animus, is a historical romance with a tantalizing touch of the supernatural, which explores the dark consequences two headstrong individualists face when fear and pride prevent them from allowing love into their lives, time and time again.