To make this clearer -- I LOVED it!!
Litherland’s writing evokes the lyric prose of Ray Bradbury, Patricia
McKillip and John Bellair’s classic, The Face in the Frost. As I read Litherland’s
words, I could literally see the café and smell the pastries, teas and coffee.
Yet there was always a sense of something lurking, behind the peaceful
scenes of summer and oncoming fall that Neal painted of this New England town.
Something ancient and whether for good or evil, the undercurrents slip between
the characters -- hidden pasts and secrets that lie just out of sight, amid
sunlit leaves and under the streetlights at night. Of music that speaks of
beauty and darkness.
Litherland starts off with the peaceful scenes of early morning in the cafe
and then slides us subtly into a world of magic and mystery, of the potential
of young love, love triangles and awakenings, and then, little by little,
shares with us the darkness that lies behind a smile and a promise.
Nope, you don’t get a spoiler, you have to read this lovely tale
yourself. It’s just the right length to sit in front of a crackling fire, tea
at your elbow, and savor the plot and prose before you go to bed and dream of
magical lands just out of sight, just past the trees and meadows of the mundane
world.
I have just one small criticism of the story. It wasn’t long enough!!
FIVE STARS!!
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