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Book of the week
Posted by Fiona Veitch Smith on 8 Oct 2007
I've just finished reading Clay by David Almond (Hodder Children's Books, 2005). This is another gem by an award-winning author. Although it's aimed at the young adult market, it's one of Almond's most adult books and, like Pulman's Dark Materials, is sure to find a crossover market. Like Dark Materials, Clay grapples with issues of faith and the nature of God. It's about two teenagers - a boy cast out of a seminary for practicing evil arts and an impressionable altar boy. Together the boys create a monster out of clay but the question is, which of the boys is its master. The story follows the dark descent of the altar boy into a twilight world of insanity and murder as he tries to retain his goodness and humanity. It questions our relationship to God and His relationship to the world. While it is far from evangelical in its outlook, good triumphs over evil and, unlike in the Dark Materials trilogy, God is given His rightful place. Almond's spartan text allows for no distraction from the central action. His characterisation is carried mainly through dialogue in an accessible rendition of a Geordie dialect. It's an incredible book that I fully reccommend.