The English Dragon
Oliver, a reasonably well-off songwriter, believes that English society
has gone to hell in a handcart. In
moments alone and in contemplation of discussions in his university days, he
muses on these things and occasionally jots down his thoughts; thoughts for his
lost son.
The paradox of modern English society is that all cultures are valued
equally, except for the English one. People
have to struggle to be English in a quiet way.
“Our freedom is being eroded. Those
bastards in government are taking it from us stealthily and insidiously.
Our culture is being eroded. You
can’t be English anymore. They’ll
make it illegal.” And the
strangest part of this paradox is that the movement against freedom is being
brought about by woolly minded ‘nice decent people’.
If, please God, he and Rowan get Ben back, what kind of country is he
going to grow up in?
A country where the institutionally busy police is paralysed by
institutional incompetence. A
country where freedom of thought and expression are stifled by a language of
impoverished ‘authorised words.’ A
country where indigenous English “values
[are] overridden and laws amended to suit the needs of newcomers”
whereas, in a healthy society, it would be “up
to settlers to show respect and awareness of the indigenous people’s homeland.”
Oliver has a place in hell for all those responsible for the parlous
state of
Rowan waits by the telephone at home in a little English village cottage
while Oliver goes to
This novel looks at the characters in an interesting way as the chapters
switch from one to another. We see
the innermost thoughts of Oliver and Rowan tumble out as if we are reading their
‘streams of consciousness’. Ben,
bizarrely, reports his experiences at the hands of his abductors in the first
person! Well, it seems a little
offbeat at first, but Ben’s innocent descriptions of modern urban
This compelling page-turner proves the old saw about never
judging a book by its cover. Behind
the uninspiring plain green cover is an attention-grabbing, thought-provoking
quest. The story line is riveting.
The reader will really care how this book ends.
Will Oliver succeed in getting his son back?
What motivates Ben’s abductors?
Is Oliver’s opinion of today’s
David Kerr