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The Storyteller
It's just another summer holiday at the caravan park,
and thirteen-year-old Jamie is feeling unloved,
unwanted and thoroughly confused.
With a recovering alcoholic mother, unresponsive sister Lauren,
and aggressive father, he has little to celebrate.
But at the park's funfair, a hidden secret comes to light
which will change his and Lauren's lives forever.
Reeling from this disclosure, Jamie stumbles into a
never-explored area of the park. Here he meets a gypsy
whose gift in storytelling might give him the insight to support his
sister when she most needs it and help the teenager make
sense of his life.
Or is that lives?
In this innovative first novel by Chris Trotter, The Storyteller
explores the poignancy of friendship and love, and how in the
cycle of life, there may be more than one chance to make things right.
Using a unique blend of traditional fiction and fantasy, Chris Trotter
interweaves two tales to an uplifting conclusion.
and thirteen-year-old Jamie is feeling unloved,
unwanted and thoroughly confused.
With a recovering alcoholic mother, unresponsive sister Lauren,
and aggressive father, he has little to celebrate.
But at the park's funfair, a hidden secret comes to light
which will change his and Lauren's lives forever.
Reeling from this disclosure, Jamie stumbles into a
never-explored area of the park. Here he meets a gypsy
whose gift in storytelling might give him the insight to support his
sister when she most needs it and help the teenager make
sense of his life.
Or is that lives?
In this innovative first novel by Chris Trotter, The Storyteller
explores the poignancy of friendship and love, and how in the
cycle of life, there may be more than one chance to make things right.
Using a unique blend of traditional fiction and fantasy, Chris Trotter
interweaves two tales to an uplifting conclusion.
222 pages, Paperback
Published January 31, 2017
11 people want to read
About the author
Chris Trotter
1 book1 followerChris Trotter was born in 1981 and was brought up in Edinburgh, where he now works as a tour guide. He studied acting and tourism and is a keen photographer. Writing has been a hobby of his since he was a child, and The Storyteller is his first published book.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 22, 2018
My sisters bought this book from the author who was leading a tour in Edinburgh. I found it lying on one of our many bookshelves and decided to give it a go.
I found this book to be one of those that stays with you over weeks and months. There is a lot to offer from it, both from a literary point of view, and in moral terms. Feelings and emotions of the characters are made explicit through the writing right from the start and we feel their pain as the story progresses. While some of the issues that this book explores are challenging, it is a worthwhile story to read if you work with young people. I would also recommend this book to teenagers, too, but I wouldn't read it to my primary aged class as it isn't really suitable.
I was left wondering about the gypsy who tells the story. I couldn't help but wonder if there was much more to this character than meets the eye, perhaps even something supernatural. This would be in stark contrast to the setting of the caravan park which is the most mundane setting possible. I like that the author leads you to make up your own mind about the gypsy. It gives the reader some creativity to explore their own theories.
Occassionally, I found the jumping between the "real-life" and the "story" a little confusing and, when I had just got comfortable with one setting, it switched to the other.
Nevertheless, I would certainly recommend this challenging and thought-provoking book. A worthwhile read!
I found this book to be one of those that stays with you over weeks and months. There is a lot to offer from it, both from a literary point of view, and in moral terms. Feelings and emotions of the characters are made explicit through the writing right from the start and we feel their pain as the story progresses. While some of the issues that this book explores are challenging, it is a worthwhile story to read if you work with young people. I would also recommend this book to teenagers, too, but I wouldn't read it to my primary aged class as it isn't really suitable.
I was left wondering about the gypsy who tells the story. I couldn't help but wonder if there was much more to this character than meets the eye, perhaps even something supernatural. This would be in stark contrast to the setting of the caravan park which is the most mundane setting possible. I like that the author leads you to make up your own mind about the gypsy. It gives the reader some creativity to explore their own theories.
Occassionally, I found the jumping between the "real-life" and the "story" a little confusing and, when I had just got comfortable with one setting, it switched to the other.
Nevertheless, I would certainly recommend this challenging and thought-provoking book. A worthwhile read!
October 16, 2018
I purchased this book after being a tour in Edinburgh which the author lead. Overall I liked the book and it was fairly innovative but a few things were not that great. I kept wondering for example, what was the age group of the intended audience. In some instances it was so simplistic that I thought it was a book for 12 year olds but then there would be some adult themes that would not be suitable for that age. I felt too that the book needed some close editing and maybe even a rewrite to tighten it up and develop the characters. It annoyed me that one of the characters was a real hard nose with some real issues bottled up but in the space of a page or two became a sensitive understanding human. Anyway a good start by a first time author.
May 26, 2019
Nice story, well written. Interweaving karmic destinies relived through rebirth. Story within story within story. A kind and gentle book. I read this because Chris was my tour guide in Edinburgh--I was not expecting much--was just supporting local talent. Nice surprise that it is actually a good, thoughtful, well written book.
November 23, 2018
An easy read, but also somewhat odd. The book is about a boy with a very troubled home life, who encounters a Gypsy who tells him a tale that helps. (By the way, isn’t the term Gypsy outdated and considered quite derogatory?) The basic philosophy of the book appears to be reincarnation, but the symbolism comes fast and furious and seem hard to understand. For example, we are apple trees? That one was actually explained, but was never clear to me. The ending with a crisis in the boy’s family is at once extreme and also resolved immediately. In short, amateurish, with some interesting, if not too many, ideas.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews