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Cuddy
A story of mystery, mythology, time travel and adventure. A group of children, all descended from St Cuthbert, must gather together seven holy talismans to help to return him to his own island paradise. Meanwhile, Jude must confront her own traumatic past if she is to face her future.
- GenresFantasy
196 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
William Mayne
135 books16 followersWilliam Mayne was a British writer of children's fiction. Born in Hull, he was educated at the choir school attached to Canterbury Cathedral and his memories of that time contributed to his early books. He lived most of his life in North Yorkshire.
He was described as one of the outstanding children's authors of the 20th Century by the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, and won the Carnegie Medal in 1957 for A Grass Rope and the Guardian Award in 1993 for Low Tide. He has written more than a hundred books, and is best known for his Choir School quartet comprising A Swarm in May, Choristers' Cake, Cathedral Wednesday and Words and Music, and his Earthfasts trilogy comprising Earthfasts, Cradlefasts and Candlefasts, an unusual evocation of the King Arthur legend.
A Swarm in May was filmed by the Children's Film Unit in 1983 and a five-part television series of Earthfasts was broadcast by the BBC in 1994.
William Mayne was imprisoned for two and a half years in 2004 after admitting to charges of child sexual abuse and was placed on the British sex offenders' register. His books were largely removed from shelves, and he died in disgrace in 2010.
He was described as one of the outstanding children's authors of the 20th Century by the Oxford Companion to Children's Literature, and won the Carnegie Medal in 1957 for A Grass Rope and the Guardian Award in 1993 for Low Tide. He has written more than a hundred books, and is best known for his Choir School quartet comprising A Swarm in May, Choristers' Cake, Cathedral Wednesday and Words and Music, and his Earthfasts trilogy comprising Earthfasts, Cradlefasts and Candlefasts, an unusual evocation of the King Arthur legend.
A Swarm in May was filmed by the Children's Film Unit in 1983 and a five-part television series of Earthfasts was broadcast by the BBC in 1994.
William Mayne was imprisoned for two and a half years in 2004 after admitting to charges of child sexual abuse and was placed on the British sex offenders' register. His books were largely removed from shelves, and he died in disgrace in 2010.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 9, 2017
"It's like a cartoon, thought Ange, drawn too wild."
This line tells me a lot of about Mayne's intention in Cuddy - and also lays bare why it doesn't really come off. In attempting to show a world where time and myth and landscape are shifting around the legends of St Cuthbert, Mayne knows what to do: move, as Garner does, with little warning as to when it happens in the narrative in time and space. Cuthbert is a boy, a man, the thaumaturge monk of legend; the children and young people are faced with a quest for seven objects that illustrate aspects of Cuthbert; the Durham countryside shifts around them; the villains slowly emerge, as in Cooper, to a final challenge. There are sudden shifts in perception- between dragons and helicopters, for example, that are meant to point to a sort of transcendent view of history and myth. The trouble is, sometimes they work, sometimes they work if the reader is paying attention, and sometimes Mayne is out of his depth. His descriptive language is still crisp and vivid, but the project misses out by trying too hard.
Mayne is trying to convey the shock and confusion of this kind of experience - the way that Garner tries in Boneland - by shifting without warning, by not explaining (the tea party at Keld House is a vivid example, a nightmarish Mad Hatter's party): "Angie found her way, without knowing where she had to go." It really is "too wild." There is simply too much going on, some very whimsical - the nun inside the bear commenting like a pious member of The Archers cast, the cathedral cat called St William and echoing the poem of Pangur Ban - some clever - the ambiguities around the working class girl Jude's power - and some, I'm afraid, just daft. The way that the creepy older Norris siblings (avoiding the spoiler) merge with Norse history needed a couple of reads, and in the final resolution is unsatisfactory in its denouement. The ways in which "magic" and religion intertwine or come into conflict could be better explored; I was left with the impression that Mayne knows the words to sing along to transcendent experience but doesn't really understand what he is describing.
I've mentioned Garner and Cooper; it feels as if Mayne is running behind, trying to catch up.
This line tells me a lot of about Mayne's intention in Cuddy - and also lays bare why it doesn't really come off. In attempting to show a world where time and myth and landscape are shifting around the legends of St Cuthbert, Mayne knows what to do: move, as Garner does, with little warning as to when it happens in the narrative in time and space. Cuthbert is a boy, a man, the thaumaturge monk of legend; the children and young people are faced with a quest for seven objects that illustrate aspects of Cuthbert; the Durham countryside shifts around them; the villains slowly emerge, as in Cooper, to a final challenge. There are sudden shifts in perception- between dragons and helicopters, for example, that are meant to point to a sort of transcendent view of history and myth. The trouble is, sometimes they work, sometimes they work if the reader is paying attention, and sometimes Mayne is out of his depth. His descriptive language is still crisp and vivid, but the project misses out by trying too hard.
Mayne is trying to convey the shock and confusion of this kind of experience - the way that Garner tries in Boneland - by shifting without warning, by not explaining (the tea party at Keld House is a vivid example, a nightmarish Mad Hatter's party): "Angie found her way, without knowing where she had to go." It really is "too wild." There is simply too much going on, some very whimsical - the nun inside the bear commenting like a pious member of The Archers cast, the cathedral cat called St William and echoing the poem of Pangur Ban - some clever - the ambiguities around the working class girl Jude's power - and some, I'm afraid, just daft. The way that the creepy older Norris siblings (avoiding the spoiler) merge with Norse history needed a couple of reads, and in the final resolution is unsatisfactory in its denouement. The ways in which "magic" and religion intertwine or come into conflict could be better explored; I was left with the impression that Mayne knows the words to sing along to transcendent experience but doesn't really understand what he is describing.
I've mentioned Garner and Cooper; it feels as if Mayne is running behind, trying to catch up.
Displaying 1 of 1 review