The First Order

The year is 1956. Sister June Johnson has never ventured far beyond the quiet walls of her English convent. But when she's ordered to travel to a remote castle high in the Swiss Alps, she obeys without question. At Castle Vertigon, she's placed under the authority of the enigmatic Father Ravenscroft and his severe assistant, Sister Josephine. Their work, she's told, is of vital importance to the Church. But something is very wrong. Deep within the castle, a prisoner is being kept – chained, starved, and subjected to brutal experiments. Whatever this prisoner is, it can speak. It pleads for mercy. It claims to have once been human. June tells herself she must trust her superiors. She must have faith. Yet the screams echoing through the stone corridors are impossible to ignore, and with each passing day, doubt begins to take root. Outside, a relentless snowstorm closes in, sealing the castle off from the world. Inside, something is growing stronger. Something that wants to be free. As the walls begin to tremble and the truth edges closer to the surface, June must decide where her loyalty truly lies – before she becomes the final piece in a centuries-old experiment. The First Order is the first book in the Chronicles of Sister June series, about an English nun whose desire for a quiet life is ruined by the discovery of a terrifying supernatural conspiracy.