The Testimony of Taliesin Jones
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- £1.99
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
The Testimony of Talieson Jones is a lyrical and acutely perceptive coming-of-age tale about faith, doubt and growing up, from Rhidian Brook, the accalimed author of The Aftermath.
Taliesin Jones is a boy on the brink of adulthood, faced for the first time with life's biggest questions.
Taliesin's life is falling apart: his mother has run off with her hairdresser, his father's temper is out of control and his brother has been ominously mute for weeks. Even more distressing than Taliesin's dysfunctional family are his classmates' claims that God does not exist. Deeply troubled by life's uncertainty, the boy seeks answers in the unlikely figure of Billy Evans, an old man with an exceptional - possibly even miraculous - talent.
The Testimony of Taliesin Jones is an extraordinary novel, exploring the space between childhood and adulthood, between belief and doubt.
'A beautiful meditation on childhood... and a panacea for a cynical age' The Times
'A rare, beautiful evocation of childhood, faith and hope. Extraordinary. I utterly believed it' Victoria Hislop, author of The Island
'Brook's debut is one of quiet miracles . . . in the marvellous way he is able to convince us of the power of faith' Sunday Times
'Poetic' Guardian
Rhidian Brook is an award-winning writer of fiction, television drama and film. The Testimony of Taliesin Jones won several prizes, including the Somerset Maugham Award. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including the Paris Review, New Statesman and Time Out, and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He is also a regular contributor to 'Thought For The Day' on the Today programme.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The youngest son of a Welsh farmer tries to deal with his parent's impending divorce by turning to faith healing in Brook's poignant first novel. Taliesin Jones is a quiet, introspective 11-year-old boy who immerses himself in the world of books to escape the harsh reality of his family's collapse when his mother leaves his father to live with her hairdresser. The boy's efforts prove problematic until he forms a connection with his piano teacher, an elderly former roofer named Billy who also dabbles in faith healing. Billy allows the boy to participate in the "cure" of an older woman with spinal problems, leading Jones to form a gang called the Believers, whose efforts are based on prayer and the laying on of hands. Their first candidate for a potential cure is an athletic but diabetic school chum, but the effort backfires when the boy's parents protest the healing and Taliesin is forced to "testify" about his beliefs at a class assembly. The result of that assembly is a connection with the class bully who had been Taliesin's nemesis, leading Jones to some small but important revelations abut his future and his potential gift. The plotting is decidedly on the spare side, but Brook writes eloquently about the pain of a family about to fall apart, and he also does some graceful, understated work in bringing to life his smalltown characters. The coming-of-age story isn't new, but the combination of a well-drawn protagonist and Brook's ability to bring a unique community to life bode well for his literary future.
