The Vandal

From the author of Ask Me No Questions a very different novel which is a Guardian Award Winner. This is an intelligent, futuristic tale which suggests that mankind's deep-seated sympathies with the rhythms of the seasons and with the accompanying pagan ritual can never be suppressed effectively. The future of the book is one where the past is considered painful enough to destroy within hours of it having been experienced. People lead ultra-hygienic lives and are controlled by the ritual of the Drink, which is actually reduces them to the level of the zombies, the danger of which all but a very few can fully appreciate and attempt to rebel against. Such a one is Paul, the vandal, whose principal felony is to give way to an appreciation of the passing of the seasons and to try to grow a real tree. An intriguing, often chilling read for older, more thoughtful young people.