The Quiet Dead

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Paul Furneret returns to Paris after a four-year interval. He again contacts Camille Flammarion, Jane de La Vaudère and Madame Zosima;, who now runs a women’s refuge and employs hypnosis to enable women to “remember” their alleged past incarnations. One night, he is intercepted by Baron de Rochemure, who had recognized his daughter in the sketch Paul produced during his first attempt at automatic drawing, and is very enthusiatic for Paul to try again. To that end, Rochemore convenes a séance to which he invites Flammarion, Zosima and Jane, as well as Henri Lemastur, the hypnotist involved in the first séance, his patroness, and Gabriel de Lautrec. The baron, who is dying of cancer, reveals for the first time the harrowing story of how his daughter died and why he has been so anxious to make contact with her.

Paul again produces four drawings while hypnotized by Zosima, but they are not what he expected; he does, however contrive a telepathic link between several of the people present, which enables Jane, the baron and his housekeeper to share a common vision, which satisfies the baron, but convinces Jane that Paul almost died in the process, only to be saved by a mysterious “angel”. As a result, she forbids Paul to have any further contact with Zosima...

Cover by Daniele Serra

Published by Black Coat Press in October 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61227-901-5

Review by Sally Startup

In this second novel of the trilogy that begins with The Painter of Spirits, Paul Furneret spends more time with the scandalous author Jane de La Vaudère. The author Brian Stableford (who has translated a number of her novels from French to English) is thus able to speculate about what she might have been like. I very much enjoyed being in Jane’s fictionalised presence.

After living for a while in the Midi with Juliette, Paul has returned to Paris for a brief visit. Both Jane and Juliette have previously seemed very protective of Paul, in spite of having been jealous of one another. Now it falls to Jane to continue trying to protect Paul from the dangers of his own artistic and psychic talents. Even without the influence of hypnosis, Paul sometimes paints without being conscious of what he is doing. He has a whole portfolio of pictures whose meanings are unclear, even to himself. Nevertheless, the Baron de Rochemure is convinced that Paul will be able use his art for the purpose of redemption.

As the hidden story of what happened to the baron and his daughter is gradually revealed, Paul is confronted with confusing and often terrifying imagery. He must remain himself, even while somehow tangled with the imaginations of other people. As Jane de La Vaudère has persistently warned, the process involves great danger.

The Brian Stableford Website