"You know, the dance at the end of 'The SeventhSeal' was an improvisation, " Mr. von Sydow said, referring to a now-iconic image of dead souls including his character being led into the unknown by Death.
While the plot may recall other allegorical crossings (such as the one that the Knight, the Squire and the circus family undertake in Ingmar Bergman's film "The SeventhSeal"), the power of Blackburn's book lies in her language and in her ability to conjure images that are at once spooky and heart-rending.