The Amethysts - Tapa dura

A psychological thriller of unremitting power – in theme unlike anything Frank Delaney has written before – the spellbinding tale of modern murders that lead back fifty years to forgotten Nazi atrocities.

Nicholas Newman, a successful English architect, is deep in mourning for his murdered lover Madeleine when a series of unexplained attacks almost kills him. In hospital, he is approached by Lukas Waterman, Madeleine’s longtime secret protector, who forces him to read a document about a forgotten Nazi project, the Family Institute – and thus to relive the horrors of a psychological experiment in which Jewish families, including Madeleine’s, were destroyed from the inside.

As Newman is caught up in the increasingly violent events surrounding the few survivors of the experiment – known as the Amethysts – he begins an odyssey of terror and self-discovery that may ultimately lead to redemption... or death.

Novelist, broadcaster and freelance journalist Frank Delaney was born in the south of Ireland in 1942. His radio programmes have included ‘Bookshelf’ and the language series ‘Word of Mouth’ on Radio 4. He regularly appears on TV, having made arts and history documentaries for the BBC, including ‘The Celts’, and features in the ‘Book Show’ on Sky News.