On holiday at a small seaside resort, Bridget meets Tom, whose aunt pilots the airship Goodcheer that takes lucky tourists on sightseeing trips around the bay. She does not guess what a role the airship will play in her life as she gazes out to sea with her wheelchair-bound brother and remarks casually: “Isn’t it funny how we often see clouds on the horizon and like to think they’re mountains?”Nor does she foresee the role of the sinister Madame Retsinis, a fairground fortune-teller who talks darkly of opportunities to travel to far lands…Or what it all has to do with the strange local tales of Manny Reeve, a local eccentric who claimed to have visited a land whose people were threatened with ecological disaster, fierce tribal conflicts and power-hungry tyrants.
Malcolm Haslett has been involved in conflict situations from an early age. Brought up in Northern Ireland, he worked as a volunteer for two years in Rwanda, and for most of his career worked at the BBC World Service trying to explain Russia to the world, and – rather more difficult – the world to Russia. He is very happily married, with three adult children, and lives in London.
Customer
Reviews
2 reviews
-
I love it, it reminds me C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia, that I love much, a bit of Lord of the Ring and it was fun to guess the origin of the names, Soviet, Kremlin, Sinister, even Alistair and so on...
I will never look at the clouds in the same way from now on.
Congratulations from all my tribe!
Looking forward to reading the rest of the story
-
This first volume of a beautiful heroic fantasy should appeal to all ages. It is nicely written, full of twists and turns and mysterious characters, some endearing, some menacing. The reader’s imagination is drawn into a marvellous world which is threatened both by environmental catastrophe and by sinister figures, some of the weak and cowardly, others drunk with the desire for power and riches. The jumbled letters of personal and place names, some of them anagrams, others more difficult to decipher, involves the reader in the young heroes’ efforts to find a solution to the problems of this troubled Realm! You very quickly want to know what happens next!
The second volume of this widely available book is awaited with impatience!
Write a Review
Discover