Customer Reviews

Dandelion Clock

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For anyone looking for a book containing equal amounts of beauty and bittersweetness, this is the one for you. It tells the story of three English children(Alex, Jamie and Anna) growing up in Italy and particularly of one summer where they encounter a wounded man hiding in a nearby abandoned church and decide to take care of him. The story begins with Alex having become middle-aged and a fairly recognised painter and returning to Italy for a couple of weeks - supposedly to find the peace to decide the order of the different paintings for his next exhibition but really having come back to try and come to terms with how what happened that summer was able to have such an impact on his life.

It is through him and his recollections that we are taken back to that summer where the children are 11...12...13 years old and where, to use a cliché, their lives are changed forever.

The book is equal parts portrait of children and childhood and an example of how people that we come across in our lives have the possibility of affecting us in ways which we can't even imagine - in this case in ways which are equally tragic for all three children.

It's difficult to do the book justice without revealing too much of the story but I have to say that the ending is both the saddest and most beautiful piece of fiction I have ever read. I cried till my chest hurt because of its beauty and, if you believe you have an ample surply of kleenex, can only recommend that you read it as well. It is at times a story of great pain but within the pain lies the beauty.

I don't think I've ever seen an author handle flashback storytelling as masterfully as in this novel. It seems effortless to move forward and back among three primary characters and 4-5 time periods, sometimes after as little as a paragraph and with no explicit announcement of the time changes. Yet I was never lost. Additionally, the story is beautifully visual. I imagined holographic images in deep oil-paint tones layering over each other with space and depth. Combine this with compelling layers of plot and character revelations until Burt has crafted a rich, three-dimensional masterpiece. I've never experienced anything like it. I loved the characters (Alex is extraordinarily well-defined) and their relationships and couldn't put the book down. A bit dark for a novel about childhood relationships and growing up, but nevertheless gorgeous. Innovative. Rewarding. While there are some minor flaws (e.g., parents just a little too out of the picture), it is one of the most satisfying reads in a very long time.

this novel is really emotive, I kept thinking about it for days after I finished it. There's something special about his characters....Alex, Jamie and Anna, and something in the ambience of the novel that is so real. Highly recommended.

"The Dandelion Clock" by Guy Burt is an incredibly well-crafted, touching novel. Through a series of flashbacks it tells the tale of Alex, James, and Anna, their childhood together in Italy and the tragic outcome. Guy Burt has done an amazing job of conveying the beauty of the childrens' relationships and the bitterness in the ensuing tragedy. This book is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. I am eagerly looking forward to any future novels by Guy Burt.