Description
Book SynopsisIt's time to write it all down. I don't know how much longer I'm going to stay. I'm writing it for me and I'm writing it for you, even though you'll probably never see it. I'm talking to you, Christa, and to no one else. Filled with yearning for lost love, writing against the backdrop of a world in chaos, Alex records an intimate account of his time with Christa, his half-Swedish girlfriend, who disappeared seven years earlier in opaque circumstances. In an isolated part of England, the lonely teenagers forge a defiant and passionate relationship. Alex's father is a bully and an alcoholic; Christa has her own profound family sorrows. The two bond over their deep love of music and a concern for animal welfare. But even as they exchange troubling secrets, sharing stories of cruelties suffered, losses endured, and vengeance taken, the couple become aware that a mysterious group of outsiders is watching over them, a group who would lure them to experiences more disturbing still. What do these strangers want? What are the bitter truths they want the young lovers to learn? And why are they convinced that the darkness within Christa is the key to the fate of the world? Though its central couple are adolescents, here is a book that explores startlingly adult terrain. Even as Alex and Christa are drawn into excitement and adventure, they must confront the inescapable horrors of existence: death, the twin traumas of consciousness and history, the fates of animals forced to share the planet with a truly ferocious species: us.
Trade Review"Nature Cults and Teenage Dreams. A cross between Romeo & Juliet, folk horror and Alan Garner. A brilliant evocation of the intense intimacies of teenage love set in the late 1980s in the rural North of England. Alex and Christa find solace from violent, cruel and neglectful parents in each other. Seemingly kindred spirits, they share a concern for animal rights, vegetarianism, and a love of music. In the mysterious woods at the back of their village, they explore together drug-fuelled visions, initiations and stark insights into the nature of the world and their role in the dark transformation of it.;Independent and underground music plays a big part in the teenager's lives and the novel is soundtracked by the music of the era: The Fall, Dinosaur Jr, Cocteau Twins, The Cure, The Cramps, The Gun Club, as well as the mystical acid folk of early 70s cult band Comus which presages the second half of the novel, as the two protagonists become entwined with a mysterious nature cult and come to see the world in a harsh new light.;And that enigmatic title. It keeps its meaning until the afterword where it hits with an unexpected force." Kulchur Kat;"Evocative. Wow, this really did bring back memories of what it was like to be a teenager. As well as the fascinating relationship, the story itself is great, although somewhat disturbing as it builds. I won't spoil the ending..." Amazon Reader;" I enjoyed the many music references, the beautiful description of young and deep love, the animals and nature element, the darkness at the heart of it and discussed the many different interpretations of all the weird occult bits over lunch." Ada Corneillie
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