| Lancette Arts Journal Founded in 2000 |
Book Reviews From our Archives |
December 2006 |
Windflower,
a novel by Nick Bantock and Edoardo
Ponti, Chronicle Books, hardcover,
215 pages, $29.95, ISBN 0-8118-4352-1, distributed by Raincoast Books
By Alidė Kohlhaas
It is hard to resist an adult fairytale, a fantasy that is told with lush language and with dramatic effect. Nick Bantock created his Griffin & Sabine saga as a form of pictorial story told in exchanges of postcards and letters from places across the world. Now Bantock, who can perhaps be called one of the best writers in the modern adult fairytale genre, has published Windflower. This novel is a departure from his previously published works, and features the tale of a young woman's journey of self-discovery told through the medium of a modern fantasy. It is co-authored by Edoardo Ponti, son of the late Carlo Ponti and Sophia Loren.
Windflower involves a young woman's quest to gain the knowledge of how to save her people, once a nomadic, gypsy-like tribe from the cultural stagnation caused by settling down and becoming dependent on landowners. Unlike her people, she still believes in the ancient stories her grandfather had told her, and is convinced that the four winds will help her find a solution. But, most importantly she must learn to dance the right dance that will connect her people to their past. To do so she must leave them. When she is faced with an arranged marriage, she has no choice but to leave and venture to the seaport of Serona in search of the man who can teach what she needs to know.
The story creates lush images through words, and is accompanied by luxuriantly illustrations by . . .
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