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Reader Reviews | |
Review by Chrissi (300906) Rating (8/10) Review
by Chrissi Marco’s mum left her parents disapproving of their lifestyle and their beliefs. They live slightly outside the boundaries of normal suburban life, with what could be politely called an alternative lifestyle; Marco’s grandfather opens by introducing himself as Woolly. Marco is not happy to be there and does not start to settle well, feeling a huge gap between himself and the other people around him. He sees the differences between the original, ‘normal’, locals and the new age believers and is unsure what is happening in the town. Marco meets Rosa, another outsider, the daughter of a priest recently arrived in Glastonbury. Rosa is not happy to be there, she feels things and her parents are upset about the things that she says she feels. Her father is a strict man, lately called to be a priest and who has moved his family from the north of the country. Her mother and father are concerned about Rosa and as a result she tries not to tell them anything for fear of upsetting them. Woolly is a long term resident of Glastonbury, and believes strongly in the spiritual side of the town. He takes Marco up the Tor, believed to be a place of power, and Marco has an experience that he cannot explain. Marco has a friend, Josh, whose father is a psychiatrist and Marco tries to explain his feeling to Josh who always tries to make a psychiatric diagnosis. Some of the internal conversations that Marco has with himself as Josh are great, trying to make sense out of an abnormal situation with a ready wit. There are some frictions between the local children and outsiders, leading to a very nasty prank played on Marco and Rosa. Finding themselves trapped, they have to work together to find their way out, a situation made worse by Marco’s claustrophobia. Marco still has the dowsing pendulum and uses it, both to help to calm himself and to get them out of their awful situation.
There have always been stories of Glastonbury as the resting place
for an artefact of immense significance, and a sceptical reader
might leap to an obvious conclusion. I like the possibility that
there is something there, although I don’t think that it
was a necessity to set the story in Glastonbury, it adds a certain
something just by association. Here we have lots of creepy goings
on, with ghostly monks and weird business men, all tying up to
make an excellent story. In the back of the book are some teaser
questions about the next instalment, and I’m as intrigued
as the next person, so I will be waiting, wanting to see what
happens next... |
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