Calandra D’Arcy, trapped in a body that has not aged since pre-puberty, suffers the frustration and loneliness of an adult woman. To survive, she must find a mysterious spring, the source of chemicals needed to bring her back to the age of her long-lost first love, Aaron Kreisler whom she cunningly ropes in to help her quest. Their strategy to beat Big Cosmetics and a Gypsy family - apparently in the Corporation’s pocket - to the site of the spring, involves violence and sexual tension that is far outside their comfort zone.
Exotic locations from Australia to Japan and Transnistria, (that renegade nation the UN are ignoring), 'Calandra's Spring' takes the worlds of Ballet, Gypsies, perpetual youth, and Big Cosmetics and their collision makes for an thrilling adventure. The unexpected reunion of two old friends entangles them in a chase that has them on the brink of jeopardy from the beginning.
Excerpt
The boy’s grandmother held up her forefinger as she continued, ‘Shush, now! Be a man like your older brothers.’ There was something in the glinting dark eye that made this command categorical.
‘Be a man, drowned? Or something else, alive? Mamia, where will I go? You said I cannot take my sickness to the city. ’
‘Everyone will catch your germs. With us you and they will be safe, or in heaven. You must obey us, boy.’
‘But my brothers have already gone. Why must I be the one to stay?’
He shinned up the tree to which his pet pony was tied and saw the churning, bubbling water not a kilometer north of the valley that the small community had called home for many generations. They should have gone on the road like the rest of his people, he always secretly believed. Even he, in his early teen years, had thought it safer for Gypsies to keep moving. His parents had died only when they settled into a government apartment provided rent-free. It was measles that killed them. His brothers scattered like the winds throughout the world, following circuses and becoming slaves to moguls who built cheap furniture. They were still hardy when they left home. Dragan understood that the toughness of their traditional outdoor life had never allowed any of these town diseases to take hold. Now, his grandparents, through their stubborn desire to establish a settled camp-site would perish too.
‘No, Mamia, Bobbi, I want to live! Forgive me for my cowardice, but I do not want to drown.’ He hauled his saddlebag, filled with a blanket and some last-minute supplies and took a brave last breath of the sweet air of home, its aromatic campfire a memory he would treasure.
‘Dragan, go with God in your heart, then! Bless you my child. Be a great man for us.’ Incantations to send him on his way were chorused by all the sombre-faced observers. His grandparents’ stony expressions masked their dilemma as well as anger for having been defied by the boy.
With his pocket-knife he undid the rope that tied his horse to the tree and heaving his leg across the mare’s back, galloped to higher ground. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He looked back from his place on the hill and the combined waters from streams and mountains suddenly barreled down the street, past the medieval castle, the stone church and the well. The strength of the flow carved everything in its path, cruelly leveling trees, small cottages and farm buildings. Dragan screamed over and over as he galloped on, intent on crossing the mountain that would provide a safe barrier between him and the water. The sounds of panicked horses, the cries of children and the wail of a mournful violin trailed away and finally ceased. Amongst the flotsam and jetsam were dolls washing against fragments of broken chairs and tables. Dragan had taken one last look and recognized his grandmother’s cooking pot and a bobbing guitar. Sobs made his chest heave and he could not tear himself away. Was that his pillow? He thought he recognized the rough velvet and silk crazy patchwork of its cover. For an instant it swirled around and was sucked into a whirlpool. In a few minutes, the sight of the hamlet being swallowed by the water - not by accident, not by one of nature’s caprices but by a choice made by some men in an office - stabbed the boy in the heart and he could look no more. He put his fists into his eyes and blotted out the view.
‘Star, hup!’ he dug his heels into the stomach of his mare and headed toward the city without another backward glance.
Professional Reviews
The elixir of life!
There was a breathtaking storyline in this kindle that will leave you tuned to the edge of the seat and not wanting to put it down, it had everything; a spot of environmental disaster, thriller, revenge and mental illness. And that was just for starters really.
This was a well written kindle that engages the characters well and provides a timely insight into the dangers of ethnic cleansing (yes there's a bit of that too!), a magical elixirs. One thing you could not say about this novel is that is it boring. It feeds a diet of intrigue and fantasy and will fire up your imagination.
Spring to Action
A gypsy elixir: is it the fountain of youth or deadly neurotoxin? To the underbelly of the cosmetics industry, it doesn't matter, just so long as there is profit in it - profit at any cost. This is the classic struggle of good vs. evil. And the heroes are people we might like to imagine being: smart, with continuity to their thinking; courageous in the face of their darkest fears; integrity you don't have to describe because they exude it; handsome, beautiful and sexy, but in control under the pressure of their imagination.
This book runs at a fast pace with a backdrop of international intrigue; corporate greed and ruthlessness; environmental calamity; ethnic cleansing and the struggles of coming of age. This is just a darned good read.
Calandra's Spring is Eternal
I must say, "Calandra's Spring" was not what I was expecting. There aren't many novels that place me in the scene, but Wendy Rawady has a way of dialing into my subconscious and putting me into the scene. Her voice as a novelist is also clear as a bell.
I also think Rawady has nudged into the young adult woman's fiction market that is raging with estrogen over the "Hunger Games" trilogy and "Twilight" series. She'd better have a few more in the works to catch the momentum.
My only nit to pick is the odd formatting ... no indents. The dictionary and glossary links work well. Great debut Kindlebook. I will certainly be looking for more of this woman's work.
