The Wish House - Softcover

Rees, Celia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330436430 ISBN 13: 9780330436434

Publisher: Young Picador, 2006

Synopsis

In the summer of 1976, on holiday in South Wales, fifteen-year-old Richard is shocked and fascinated to meet the tenants of the historic Wish House. Jay Dalton is a well-known artist, and his large, bohemian family - casually stripping naked on the beach, smoking dope, ignoring convention - seem astonishingly glamorous. Richard falls under the spell of beautiful, free-spirited Clio, Jay's daughter. She seduces him in a secret forest grotto, where they spend idyllic days playing out her favourite Celtic myths of brave grail knights and powerful enchantresses.

But why does Jay paint so many nudes of Clio? Why is he obsessed with the need to paint Richard? Why does his wife grow poisonous plants in her Witch's Garden? The Daltons' dark secrets draw Richard into a world of disturbing relationships, where he discovers, too late, that his innocent arrival at the Wish House was no accident . . .

About this title

Review:

Rees is undoubtedly a popular and prolific writer for young people, but ever since the immense success of her historical sagas like Witch Child and Pirates!, she has not written many of the disturbing thrillers or other kinds of psychologically taught fiction for young adults like she used too. The Wish House is just such a novel, being moody and very dark, with emotions aplenty simmering under the surface of each page.

Richard, Rees’ main character and in his twenties when the book begins, recalls a tumultuous, pivotal summer in his life. In 1976, while on holiday in South Wales, he was a naive 15-year-old temporarily in the thrall of a family of free-living, free-loving, drug-imbibing bohemians who have renovated and moved into one of his old childhood haunts, the Wish House. He is shocked by their nudity, openness and artistic lifestyle but is lured into their world by kindness, sexual awakening and fascination.

The object of his affections, Clio, is like no girl he has ever met before. She is fresh-faced, gorgeous, supremely confident and easy to talk to. They soon become intimate and Richard loses himself to her completely. For days on end, in the hot summer sun, while Richard poses for Clio’s father, Jay, a famous artist, her mother and brother swirl around them, greeting friends, eating, drinking, swimming, partying on the beach--living a decadent life with no inhibitions. But Richard soon discovers there are secrets in this house, and that surface appearances can hide complicated and twisted relationships that will finally explode into tragedy. Rees’ book is about how people can manipulate others, and how innocents can be so easily snared by something different and seemingly glamorous. Instead of focusing on plot, the author dissects her cast of characters and exposes their many foibles to great effect. (Age 14 and over) --John McLay

Review:

A top-notch look at first love, heartbreak, and the driving force of passion.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Young Picador
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0330436430
• ISBN 13: 9780330436434
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224