I looked back at the house as we left, and noticed for the first time that the eighteenth-century façade of the ground floor had been designed as a casing or shell for the sixteenth-century interior. I understood then that it had truly become my responsibility: it was as if some lost creature had come up to me, had attached itself to me, and pleaded silently with me to take care of its quiet life. That, at least, was what I thought at the time.

– Page 16

The House Of Doctor Dee by Peter Ackroyd

When Matthew Palmer inherits an old house in Clerkenwell he feels himself to have become a part of its past. Compelled to probe its mysteries, he discovers to his horror and curiosity that the previous owner was a practitioner of Black Magic.

As he continues his research, Matthew learns of the famous sixteenth-century sorcerer and astrologer John Dee. A great philosopher and mathematician, Doctor Dee believed in the possibility of communication with spirits. Drawn into the mystery of his alchemical experiments, Matthew becomes aware of the forces awakening about him. When he learns of the possible existence of an ancient city buried beneath the ground and of the everlasting creature known as the homunculus, he is led to the fantastic truth about his father and about himself…

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