“His Black Wings” By Astrid Yrigollen: “Beauty and the Beast” Meets “Jane Eyre”
Claren Maidstone is attempting to bury her past… She has tried assuming a new identity and found employment as the live-in personal assistant of an older, wealthy man. Living at the opulent, secluded mansion in exchange for a few hours of work each week running errands seems like a dream come true until Claren meets the other resident of the mansion –one her employer has tactfully avoided mentioning before: His son.
To find a young man living in his father’s house is not particularly unusual; however, virtually everything else about this young man is extremely unusual…Beginning with his black wings…
Not “black wings” in any figurative sense of the words, mind you. No. He actually has a pair of large, black wings growing out of his back. No wonder his father keeps him secreted away from the rest of the world…
Each evening after the sun sets, however, the young man soars over the surrounding landscape and feels what it’s like to have true freedom — until the sun rises once again in the morning. Eventually, a friendship will evolve between the quiet, apprehensive young woman and the “deformed” or “supernatural” (depending upon how you look at it) youth. Claren doesn’t resemble the sort of person one would normally think of as being on the run from the Law…
That’s because Fate has been especially cruel to her.
Her wealthy parents had been grooming a suitor for her — right up until their untimely deaths in a boating accident, that is…On the surface, Claren’s parents’ choice of a potential mate for their daughter seemed like an acceptable one. He was, after all, the mayor’s son but, in reality, Claren knew him to be a sadistic, crude, vindictive and philandering near-psychotic. Indeed, within days of her parents’ funeral, he attempted to rape her — right there in her parents’ house.
Luckily, with the help of her loyal wolfhound, she was able to fight him off but, in doing so, he was seriously injured and Claren knew better than to wait around until he regained consciousness…
She knew there could be no true justice for her against someone who was so politically well- connected. She also knew he would come after her and not rest until he made her pay for fighting back. So, Claren hastily grabbed a few possessions and ran… She ran as fast as far as she could but,
without access to the monetary resources of her parents’ estate, she would have to find some other way to support herself. That’s when, quite by accident, she stumbled across the want-ad that eventually led her to the secluded mansion of her present employer and its very peculiar resident…
“His Black Wings” is suitable for teens through young adults who enjoy reading books of the
Fantasy genre.