Published by Penguin, review by Allison Johnston
It has taken me a while to settle down with this book. Put off by the phonetic spelling, I kept picking it up to begin, then putting it down again. But then I finally got over the issue, chiding myself: ‘this is David Almond for goodness sake.’ I am pleased I did for this is a book that rewards careful reading.
Surprisingly it was the darkness of the storyline that made me linger over this novel, which is billed as Almond’s first for adults. It could easily suit young adults, who may be comfortable in weird, apocalyptic worlds. Billy Dean has grown up in secret in the village of Blinkbonny in a tiny room, alone with his mother. At the beginning of the novel, Billy’s father returns, and Billy describes the insular and innocent world explored principally through sight, sensation and sound.
When his father disappears, Billy becomes part of society – what is left of it, and gradually his own history is revealed: a terrible war has devastated the land and people but through the midwife Missus Malone, Billy helps in his way to fix the broken society. But a figure from the past returns forcing a shocking chain of events. Take your time with this book, like me, as it continues to haunt. Maybe it’s not an adult book at all.