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Loading... Everlasting Lane: A Novel (edition 2015)by Andrew Lovett
Work InformationEverlasting Lane: A Novel by Andrew Lovett
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"A captivating, absorbing, and suspenseful evocation of the spells of childhood In a timeless coming-of-age tale as charming and haunting as the movie Stand By Me, Andrew Lovett's Everlasting Lane tells the story of what happens when nine-year-old Peter's father dies and his mother moves them from the city to a house in the countryside, for what seem to Peter to be mysterious reasons. He's soon distracted, though, by the difficulties of being the new, shy kid at school, and he befriends the other two kids who seem to be outcasts: overweight Tommie and too-smart-for-her-own-good Anna-Marie. Together they try to weather the storm of bullying teachers and fellow students, by escaping into explorations of the seemingly bucolic countryside. There, though, they find other outcasts from society such as cranky Mr. Merridew, who won't leave his cottage in the woods, and Scarecrow Man, who stands in the fields searching the skies. And meanwhile, Peter is disturbed by the growing awareness that his own mother may be some sort of outcast, too--and that she's hiding something from him in a locked room in the attic, a room she's expressly forbidden him from entering. Written in beautiful prose, Everlasting Lane is a captivating, absorbing, and suspenseful evocation of the spells of childhood: sun-soaked, nostalgic, with the soft focus and warm glow of a Polaroid--but it's darker than it seems. Will Peter and his mother find the light in that darkness?"-- No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.92Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 2000-LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The time and place will probably mean more to UK readers (and I wonder if this is what some of the lower ratings on Goodreads are missing). Here you'll find Tizer, Basil Brush, insults like "bog off!" and a whole panoply of recognisably eccentric villagers and teachers. All set against one of the everlasting summers of childhood where kids roamed free and only needed to be back by teatime.
I've been working my way back through Galley Beggar's books this summer, and this is the fourth I've read, and I haven't been disappointed yet. It is a mix of young innocence shot through with a dark undercurrent -- to quote the book "Like the moon: half sunlight, half midnight. All moon". With no easy answers, like life itself. ( )