The Wind Tamer
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| P. R. Morrison |
| Bloomsbury Children's Books |
| 074757950 |
| Feb 2006 |
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The Wind Tamer is distinctively sensual. First time author P. R. Morrison has a wonderful knack for grounding her prose with strong imagery. The brilliant pure white Ice Gulls against the bleak darkness of Westervoe in coastal Scotland and the slam and screech, whistle and roar of the wind make for a hugely atmospheric and at times filmic backdrop to an unusual novel that sweeps readers into its richly imaginative world of suspense and intrigue.
Archie Stringweed is turning ten; there’s a suspicion amongst his family that life will never be the same again… Several generations ago a curse was put on the Stringweed family and early on in the novel a terrible transformation takes place. A web of curiosities and mysteries involving green balls of light, talking gusts and blusters of wind, clouds of white birds, a huge amount of snow, a couple of coins and the sudden appearance of eccentric and well-travelled Uncle Rufus all come together as part of the conflict with the tornado Huigor. The main strength of this novel is its castlist of colourful and unconventional characters. They are painted with verve and good humour and each has their own particular anxiety to overcome. It is how they do this and the type of bravery they display that makes the novel both heartening and admirable. At times the onslaught of different and discursive story-elements leaves the reader feeling slightly wind-swept, but this is a book that will quench the thirst for action and adventure of even the most thrills-desperate child.
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