It's campy, overwritten in places ("The word was like a breaking heart, a sudden peal of stifled bells in a gale, the last syllables of one dying of thirst in the desert"), and of gimcrack design.

On this piece of worldly wisdom she withdrew, pulling the door shut behind her with enough vigour to drown Phoebe's sudden peal of laughter.

He bad thought Ilaloa would take offense, but she laughed now, a sudden joyous peal, and one arm went about Sean.

Straightening up, he heard a sudden peal of church bells cleave through the silence.

The question was a sudden peal of thunder, reverberating with such soundless violence between Bahzell's ears that his eyes glazed.

The silence seemed to break asunder as the sudden peal of a sinister laugh broke through the blackness.

Upon the hallowed silence burst a sudden peal of trumpets.

She heard a sudden peal of laughter from the next street over.

I could hear the monks at prayer, the rise and fall of the sutras, the sudden clear peal of a bell.

The small white phone nestled into the pillows beside her gave a sudden and jarring peal.