The Summoning

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In The Summoning, two novellas celebrate the astonishing transformation of character when boisterous, fanciful and sometimes comic eroticism is fully embraced. The Clearing introduces us to Anna, daughter of the owner of a vast estate in England in the nineteenth century. She and her highly imaginative partner Guillame procure clients (from field hands to noblemen, diminutive acrobats to nervous lawyers) for raucously sexual appointments with Anna. This audacious money-making scheme has surprising repercussions for Anna and Guillame, as well as future generations, as seen through the adventures of Melissa Marley, heroine of The Awakening. In this second novella, set in contemporary Ohio, Melissa's sudden transformation has life-changing consequences for those around her, and poses the intriguing possibility that the two novellas may be more connected than first supposed.