Release Date: April 10, 2012
TweetAbout the Book: Teenaged O – never call her Ophelia – is about to spend the summer with her aunt Emily. Emily is a poet and the owner of an antiquarian book store, The Green Man. A proud, independent woman, Emily’s been made frail by a heart attack. O will be a help to her. Just how crucial that help will be unfolds as O first tackles Emily’s badly neglected home, then the chaotic shop. But soon she discovers that there are mysteries and long-buried dark forces that she cannot sweep away, though they threaten to awaken once more. At once an exploration of poetry, a story of family relationships, and an intriguing mystery, The Green Man is Michael Bedard at his finest.
First Line: In the middle of the night the phone rang, wrenching O from a dead sleep.
What Others Are Saying: “…Bedard provides a quietly compelling and satisfyingly atmospheric tale. With its shifting narrators, the tension builds slowly as readers catch glimpses of Emily’s unsettling dreams, her mounting anxiety and the gradual revelation of her story…. The book is a successful and engaging mystery while also offering much more…. It is a subtle and complex tale, filled with magic and mysticism, poets and dreamers, and unbreakable family ties … it will linger in the minds of more introspective readers and provide them with a richly rewarding reading experience.” —Recommended, CM Magazine
What I Thought: O, not Ophelia and quirky Emily are great characters and I enjoyed watching their relationship grow. When I picked this up I hadn't ever heard of the author or the fact that his prior debut fiction was the first in the series, but I didn't feel like anything was missing. The mystery permeated each page right from the first and weaved it's vines around tightly pulling me along until the very end. The subtle overtones of the Green Man mythology of death, rebirth, Spring and Summer could have been explored more deeply and only whetted my appetite for a new line of research. It can't be denied that Bedard is a wonderful story teller.
About The Author:
Michael Bedard
Publisher: Tundra
Michael Bedard grew up in a busy household in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. His first experience with writing came in high school when a teacher introduced him to poets such as William Blake, John Keats, T. S. Eliot, and Emily Dickinson, and he soon determined to become a writer himself. Studying both English and philosophy at the University of Toronto, Bedard graduated in 1971 and took a job in a university library. He also married and started a family. While working as a pressman for a small print shop, he found a publisher for his first two original fairy tale collections for children, Woodsedge and Other Tales and Pipe and Pearls.
From the outset, Bedard followed a challenging path as a writer. In both his early collections he made few concessions to young readers in terms of language. Although some reviewers complained, this adult tone is a quality Bedard has maintained throughout his fiction.
Debut Fiction: A Darker Magic
It began innocently enough with the discovery of an old flyer announcing a long-forgotten magic show held on Saturday, August 8, 1936. But since then, Emily and her teacher, Miss Potts, have been drawn into sinister and frightening shadows from another realm. In a life-and-death struggle, the unlikely pair must overpower the evil that lies waiting at the old railway depot. But time is running out. Again this year, August 8 falls on a Saturday and Emily's classmate, Craig Chandler, is in grave danger. He has befriended a mysterious boy and fallen under the spell of a darker magic.
Don't forget to visit the other MMGM bloggers listed in my sidebar!
More interesting Green Man information here.
What I Thought: O, not Ophelia and quirky Emily are great characters and I enjoyed watching their relationship grow. When I picked this up I hadn't ever heard of the author or the fact that his prior debut fiction was the first in the series, but I didn't feel like anything was missing. The mystery permeated each page right from the first and weaved it's vines around tightly pulling me along until the very end. The subtle overtones of the Green Man mythology of death, rebirth, Spring and Summer could have been explored more deeply and only whetted my appetite for a new line of research. It can't be denied that Bedard is a wonderful story teller.
Michael Bedard
Publisher: Tundra
Michael Bedard grew up in a busy household in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. His first experience with writing came in high school when a teacher introduced him to poets such as William Blake, John Keats, T. S. Eliot, and Emily Dickinson, and he soon determined to become a writer himself. Studying both English and philosophy at the University of Toronto, Bedard graduated in 1971 and took a job in a university library. He also married and started a family. While working as a pressman for a small print shop, he found a publisher for his first two original fairy tale collections for children, Woodsedge and Other Tales and Pipe and Pearls.
From the outset, Bedard followed a challenging path as a writer. In both his early collections he made few concessions to young readers in terms of language. Although some reviewers complained, this adult tone is a quality Bedard has maintained throughout his fiction.
It began innocently enough with the discovery of an old flyer announcing a long-forgotten magic show held on Saturday, August 8, 1936. But since then, Emily and her teacher, Miss Potts, have been drawn into sinister and frightening shadows from another realm. In a life-and-death struggle, the unlikely pair must overpower the evil that lies waiting at the old railway depot. But time is running out. Again this year, August 8 falls on a Saturday and Emily's classmate, Craig Chandler, is in grave danger. He has befriended a mysterious boy and fallen under the spell of a darker magic.
Don't forget to visit the other MMGM bloggers listed in my sidebar!
More interesting Green Man information here.
This sounds interesting. The cover is very intriguing. Thanks for spotlighting this.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of this one! Thanks for spreading word about it.
ReplyDeleteWooo, I will for sure check this one out! Thanks for sharing it...
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this book. Sounds cool.
ReplyDeleteSeason of Secrets by Sally Nicholls (which I mentioned on my blog ages ago) also explores the Green Man myth. As does Greenwitch by Susan Cooper.