Who is Karin, of no past, so vibrant, so beautiful? And what is to become of Alan Desland, the unworldly Englishman who falls under her spell? This is the haunted story of Alan's love for a woman beautiful and voluptuous beyond experience or even imagination, yet at the same time mysterious and disturbing as a pagan goddess. What darkness underlay the bliss and fear she inspired? Like a slowly intensifying August thunderstorm, the dark forces gather in a crescendo of terror.