|
Clovermead: In the Shadow of the Bear
by David Randall
Margaret K McElderry Books, 2004
288 pages
Reviewed by Christy Risser-Milne
Not since reading the Newberry Award-winning A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle have I encountered a fantasy with a heroine as engaging Clovermead. Willful, intelligent, quick-to-learn and beautiful, Clovermead captures the reader from the very first page. Within which, incidentally, she is trespassing into the room of an intriguing border staying at her father’s inn.
Of course she is caught, but not before David Randall, in his first novel, skillfully introduces us to Clovermead without anyone uttering a single syllable: “Clovermead’s flailing limbs radiated an almost palpable energy as she sprang from pillow to blolster and back again.”
Randall has a gift for visual writing. His words form pictures in the mind’s eye that are vivid Technicolor, complete with THX surround sound.
We quickly discover that Clovermead’s idyllic life of work and play, dosed with a healthy portion of relatively innocent mischief, is not what it seems. With the arrival of an evil, mysterious visitor, she discovers that her beloved father has lied to her for the whole twelve years of her long life. This revelation nearly undoes her. Never before has Clovermead been betrayed, and it is the first step on a journey that will lead to either destruction or creation. And only Clovermead herself may choose.
Unfortunately for Clovermead, this places her at the front line in the very real fight between good and evil for control of the world. To tell you any more of the story, however, is to deny you the genuine pleasure of experiencing this book.
The best, and simultaneously the worst, of Clovermead is that it leaves you wanting more. Randall has the gift of making readers believe that Clovermead existed before this story, and that she continues to exist after. The unfortunate news in this is that, according to the publisher, there are presently no plans for a sequel.
Let me therefore make a rare plea to both publisher and author: Please tell us what happens next. Please.
Clovermead need not be left only to the young adults to whom it is marketed: It is a great adventure story for readers of any age who are willing to suspend disbelief and enter into a whole new world.
Christy Risser-Milne is a freelance writer and photographer living in Boston, Massachusetts.
|
