Alan and Kate Marlowe are a typical, loving, middle-class couple, with four young children. But they wish they had just one more, a beautiful baby daughter. So when a strange young woman abandons her infant at their house, they view it as a blessing-a godsend-and adopt little Bonnie as their own. But it is not long after Bonnie’s arrival before terrible things begin to happen to the Marlowe family, beginning with the death of their son Matthew. As the tragedies mount, Alan starts to suspect Bonnie and fears he may be losing his grip on his sanity. After all, surely such a small, lovely, innocent child could not possibly be responsible for such horrors … ?

The classic first novel by Bernard Taylor, The Godsend (1976) earned widespread critical acclaim on its initial publication and was the basis for a 1980 film. This edition, the first in over twenty years, features a new introduction by Mary Danby. Taylor’s Sweetheart, Sweetheart and The Moorstone Sickness are also available from Valancourt.

If you liked The Exorcist, The Other, and Rosemary’s Baby, The Godsend is for you! - Hartford Courant

The Godsend is a splendidly readable and creepy story. - Sunday Express

A shocker … I enjoyed every horrid word of it. - Daily Telegraph