A really fascinating book about a young woman's journey through herself and time and her ancestral family. Young Deirdre MacCallum is called to the bedside of her aging great-grandmother and given the keys to her Washington Square home. While incorporating these sudden events into her life, thinking it would only be a short vacation, she instead finds herself walking through a door into the past.

This book is part time travel and part historical fiction as it deals with the real-life Aleister Crowley and one of his Scarlet Women. In the Washington Square home live the family of the great grandmother, Bridget, who fall apart by tragedy until Crowley joins the story. At which point, in this setting, the ritual magick for which he is known becomes a central theme, involving Bridget, Crowley, and the Scarlet Woman who is a close friend and confidante of Bridget.

It is a well-written combination of historical fiction, alternate realities, time travel, and a young woman's self-discovery in the midst of her life upending itself. I enjoyed its depth and venturing into strange and different stories. ( )

This book is very long and confusing in parts. But well worth every minute. The heroine travels through time, 72 years, and meets up with Aleister Crowley. Does make you want to find more on him. ( )