Reviewed by Bryn Colvin,
Posted by WW Melnyk


	I have spent the last few
days reading "The Apple and the Thorn." The book is about 100,000 words in
length, and I’ve read it in about four days, over one of the busiest weekends in
my year – which gives some measure of how much I enjoyed it. I really didn’t
want to put this down. It’s a blend of myth and fiction, exploring some familiar
ideas in rather unfamiliar ways.
	The difficulty with reviewing this book is
not wanting to give too much away. In the first few chapters, the moments of
realising who some of the protagonists are, were pleasures I would not want to
deny to others. Learning about the characters and watching the way their
relationship changes and grows is central to the book. So what can I say? ‘The
Apple and the Thorn’ brings together both Pagan and Christian myths about
Glastonbury. Set around the Roman invasions of Britain, at a time when
Glastonbury was marsh, water and islands rather than dry land, it’s more akin to
the mystic Avalon of King Arthur than modern geography. This makes for a moody
setting, fraught with dangers and possibilities.
	The writing is rich,luscious
and intensely sensual. It’s also a story told entirely in the first person
present tense, with two narrators. I found it easy to keep track of the
narrators however, thanks to the differences in writing styles and voices. I
think this is the first novel I’ve read entirely in the present tense, and it
works surprisingly well, making the story immediate and the narrating voices
intense.
	Having read quite a lot of Emma Restall Orr’s non-fiction, I found
her fictional writing style entirely familiar, and very engaging. Her co-author
– Walter William Melnyk I hadn’t encountered before, but his style compliments
hers, and they pass the story back and forth between them to good effect. 
	I
cried over some of the scenes. I gaped at the computer a few times. I laughed in
amusement when I realised who some of the characters were. And I’ve come away
inspired,thinking about my own spiritual path, my own relationship both with the
land and its stories. 

Highly Recommended.