David Fairchild, an American scholar, comes to England to investigate the mysterious Westchurch Manuscript, which has lain inexplicably neglected in the library of a Cambridge college. Expecting little more than a pleasant year abroad, Fairchild stumbles on facts that could make his reputation in his field – or cost him his life. For what he discovers is the connection between the medieval manuscript and a contemporary Satanist cult, a connection that is also inextricably intertwined with the family secrets of a distinguished Cambridge colleague and the colleague’s strangely driven daughter Stephany.
As the startling meaning and bloody history of the Manuscript slowly unfold themselves to Fairchild, we watch, in flashbacks, scenes from the life of the manuscript’s author, Geoffrey Gervaise, a twelfth-century priest who mastered both the fine and forbidden arts at the great universities of his day. Poet as well as priest, scholar, disciple of the legendary Becket, master at the game of chess, Gervaise dared to turn his back on the established church to enter a Faustian pact with the Devil; and only by understanding the terms of that pact can Fairchild hope to free Stephany from the curse that haunts her.
An unusual blend of historical romance, supernatural suspense and literary detection, *Celestial Chess* uses its two-tiered plot to present a rich gallery of characters from modern England and the Middle Ages caught in the timeless struggle between forces of Darkness and Light.