To Sleep No More by Dinah Lampitt is a story of reincarnation that spans over five centuries and is three very different stories rolled into one.

I would like to point out that most of the main spoilers of the first story are on the sleeve of the edition I read, so I don' t consider them to be too much of a give away of the plot.

However there is much less given away of the later stories and as such I will try not to give away too many spoilers.

The novel opens in the year 1333 where a wide variety of characters are gathered together for the coming of the Archbishop of Canterbury to his palace in the village of Maghefield.

Amongst the many characters is Oriel of Sharndene who is about to be manipulated by her brother Piers into marriage with his lover James Mouleshale so that Piers can control the Mouleshale fortune.  Luckily for Oriel her parents are not as strict with their daughter as many families of the era and when her protests continue she is allowed to refuse James's offer of marriage providing she accepts the next offer.

When Piers father discovers that he and James's were lovers he banishes him from the house and sends him to London not knowing that he has taken James with him.

In London Piers and James are soon in trouble and a drunken brawl with the orphaned Marcus who travels with Sir Paul d'Estrange results in the death of James when Piers dagger misses it's mark.

After this tragic episode Piers returns to Maghefield to break the news to James's mother Juliana Mouleshale and to console her.  His quest to get his hands on the Mouleshale fortune bears fruit when he weds the mother of his deceased lover.

Meanwhile Sir Paul and Marcus are also heading to Maghefield to seek refuge in the house of the Archbishop until Sir Paul can be granted an audience with the king and petition for the return of his lands.

The Archbishop is a man of many faces and hidden within his household is one of his brothers who he half loves and half hates.  For Colin is a grown man with the mental age of 8 years old and the Archbishop is at a loss to know what to do with him for the best.   He soon hits upon the idea of marrying him to Oriel and requests that her father attends him so that he can offer for Oriel on behalf of his brother.

Robert de Sharndene meanwhile has secrets of his own, he is keeping  a mistress in the town of Bath not knowing that he is sharing her with his eldest son Hamon.  When he hears that the Archbishop wishes to speak to him urgently he fears that the man has discovered his secret and is somewhat taken aback when he is told the true reason for his summons.

Despite his earlier declaration that Oriel will accept the next offer of marriage with no choice he does give her the chance to decline the offer because of Colin's handicap.  Oriel however decides to accept, for she is enchanted by the musical talent Colin portrays and knows that he would never be cruel to her.

Marcus meanwhile is the keeper of Colin and he has fallen in love with Oriel.  After the marriage Marcus remains with the couple and before long he and Oriel are lovers and she finds herself carrying his child.

Before the child's birth however Marcus disappears and despite long searches he is never found and is presumed dead.

This is where the novel becomes a mystery as we attempt to discover who has murdered Marcus, for surely no other reason would account for his disappearance.  But although the reader is enlightened to the person behind the murder none of the characters are.

Oriel meanwhile dies in childbirth and only Colin remains out of the three close friends.

The story may seem to be over at this point, but there is more to tell as part two of the saga commences in Maighfield in the year 1609 where Jenna Casselowe, the great-niece of a condemned witch is about to start a chain of events through her witchcraft talents to capture the love of Benjamin Mist, the local carpenter.

From this point it is a guessing game as to who is the re-incarnation of what character from the earlier century.  Some are easy to guess, Colin's musical talent for instance is something which lives on no matter who is he.

Without ruining too much of the story this part of the novel follows Jenna and Benjamin as he fights against her determination to win his love and events soon spin out of control until they are once more parted by death.

An assortment of characters are re-incarnated in this century and when part three of the novel opened I was still at a loss to place some of the characters.  Again in part three I found myself flicking back through the pages for clues to the past characters.

Part three of the story is centred on the high born Henrietta Trevor and her love for a highway man named Jacob Challice.

This part of the story also has the edition that one of the reincarnated characters is dabbling in hypnosis and digs deep into the past of many of the characters to discover who they were in their past lives.

This is a very complex novel with an array of colourful characters.  At first I did find it a little confusing with so many characters introduced right from the start and I constantly found myself flicking back through the pages to clarify details.  However soon the story takes over and the reader is drawn into the three different worlds as the soulmates strive to come together despite the many characters who would keep them apart.

Three different novels rolled into one each one different and enthralling.  The historical note at the back also adds to the story as we can learn exactly which characters existed and even which one haunts the village of Mayfield even today.

If you don't mind having to flick back through the pages and love lots of sub-plots and many characters this is a book to look for.  However I will warn you that it is different to find a copy.  I have never managed it and have only had the pleasure of reading the copy from the local library.

RATING : 
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Also by Dinah Lampitt :  Banishment, As Shadows Haunting and the Sutton Place trilogy.

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