The Claude Glass
By: Tom Bullough
Publisher: Sort Of Books; Sort of Books
Published: 2007
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 201
ISBN-13: 9780954899516
Subjects: Farm life; Fiction
Description: Set in the Welsh Borders in 1980, The Claude Glass charts an unlikely friendship between two neighbours: Robin, the seven year old son of English hippie sheep farmers, and Andrew, a child so neglected by his impoverished parents that he is left almost mute, seeking solace among the farm dogs. Exploring his parents' semi-derelict farmhouse, Andrew finds an antique convex mirror - a Claude Glass - and, gazing into it, the two boys see their wild, rural landscape strangely ordered. But this comforting vision proves fragile as tensions and sexual jealousy rock the adult world around them. Written with a lyricism and freshness that echoes the work of Bruce Chatwin and Esther Freud, The Claude Glass draws you into the lives of its startling characters and their tarnished romance with nature.