Hodder & Stoughton, UK, 1999, ISBN 0-340-73913-4 hardback
New English Library, UK, 2000, ISBN 0-340-73914-2 paperback
[Reviewed by Paul Kane] [Roots of the Judas Tree]
See our [Cover
Gallery] for the NEL paperback cover and a more detailed view of the Hodder
cover
Amelia Thomas heads for the sun-soaked Greek island of Voros not only to escape her cold, dreary home town, but also to piece her life back together after a failed romance and a mysterious accident which has left her feeling an outsider to the rest of the world.
Voros should be an idyllic, peaceful place. Here there are no roads, no towns, only the Judas tree which grows in astonishing profusion, blossoming each spring into a vivid pink that lends the island an otherworldly air.
But the island is not what it appears. Nor are the people who live there. Something unexpected haunts Voros. A something that Amelia cannot see, but a something which has the power to shape events, to invade lives and to make people do strange, sometimes frightening things.
That dark power is about to reach out to Amelia and take her on a strange and ghostly journey of self-discovery. A journey where danger lurks...
In the classic tradition of The Haunting of Hill House, Rebecca and The Shining, Simon Clark has written a truly thrilling modern ghost story which will continue to haunt the reader long after the final page.