Cold Tom

One of the tribe who live on the common, Tom fends cautiously for himself, ever watchful in case his growing clumsiness leads to his expulsion or worse. Meanwhile the houses of the much-feared demons have edged closer. These alien worlds come dramatically together when Tom must flee for his life. He finds shelter in a demon’s garden shed and is cared for by Anna, a demon girl. Which world, then, does Tom belong to? Is it a choice between the ruthless hating of the Tribe and the smothering warmth of the demons or can he stand alone?

Written in short, intense chapters, this bold mixture of magic and realism is rooted by its sturdy sense of location and its witty play with difference as, eg, when Tom is astonished that Anna should keep a piece of meat (her guinea pig) as a pet rather than eat it. At a deeper level, Tom, Anna and her lonely half-brother Joe are faced with an existential choice – will the vines that bind them turn out to be the slave-ropes that Tom first assumed them to be or is there a freer way to be attached? In this edgily written first novel, Prue’s inventive flair is both engrossing and demanding. A considerable achievement.