Customer Reviews

The Pagan House

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The back cover describes Pagan House as " a brilliant blend of detective mystery, historical fiction and coming-of-age tale and a testament to the unknown parts our ancestors play in our seemingly unconnected lives." For the most part the narrator is an imaginative 12/13 year old boy who refers to himself as Edgar although his real name is Edward. Pagan House is where his paternal Grandmother lives in upstate New York. Edgar is visiting from London to see his father who is delayed and Edgar's days are either spent meeting some of the other children in this small one company town or spending time with his aging grandmother and her carer Warren. Every 2 or 3 chapters of these fairly tedious events the book flashes back to Edgar's ancestors George and Mary Pagan and John Pringle Stone. They were the founders of a religious sect which believed in the abolishment of marriage and private property.
The spurious connection of having Edgar as an ancestor is a contrived device and left me bewilderd as to its relevance. The repetitive coming of age activities of a young boy who has reached puberty and his pizza eating experiences all made for a rather long winded and dreary read with little of the "brilliant blend" so descibed on the back cover. Detective Mystery Booklovers will definitely want to leave this book on the shelf.