The Greater Trumps

A Novel

By: Charles Williams

Narrated by: David Pickering

Would someone really kill for a pack of cards?

But these are no ordinary cards. This is the original tarot deck, from which all other tarot decks have sprung. Their fate is entwined with a set of gold figurines representing the Major Arcana, which continually dance around a tabletop much like a chess board—the archetypal forces of the universe in miniature. Whoever can bring the deck and the figurines together will wield power over heaven and earth.

Nancy’s father has come into possession of the cards, but doesn’t know what he has. Her fiancé, Henry—of gypsy heritage—does. His family is in possession of the figurines, and he is determined to possess the cards as well. His offer to buy them refused, Henry makes plans to do whatever it takes to gain his prize, no matter who it hurts....

The Greater Trumps is one of Williams’ most thrilling and enjoyable novels—and at the same time, it is perhaps his most symbolically rich.

©1932 Bruce Hunter (P)2022 John Mabry

I enjoyed the story

I enjoyed the story and the performance. In fact, the audiobook makes the book something I could get through. This book Marty's the occult with the thriller genre. It is a worthy book that I will be rereading soon.

Williams at his best

Williams's unique lyrical mysticism finds both its dramatic peak and its greatest clarity in this incomparable novel: and even aside from its quality, I say 'incomparable' because there's really nothing I can think of that it can reasonably be compared *to*. Christmas in the English countryside turns perilously archetypal as the single original deck of the Tarot is reunited with the 22 dancing figures from which they were drawn. It is not strength, magical power, or any faith as religions use the term that may save the world from the unleashed Dance.