A place without doors, without dreams

books:


	• The Bell at Sealey Head Patricia A. McKillip Ace Hardcover, 2008 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Predictable and that's good

The story is typical McKillip: characters that inspire interest and a touch of magic; her usual fluid and poetic style or writing; just what I wanted and just what I got.

A place without doors, without dreams

A crumbling mansion with doors to another world, a small seaside town, and a mysterious bell that tolls every day at sunset where no bells are.

With that to describe it, it's no wonder that "The Bell At Sealey Head" is a book by Patricia A. McKillip, spinner of hauntingly lyrical fantasies. And her newest book is no exception -- an exquisite magical mystery full of humour, secret doors, and a sorcerous power that is creeping into Sealey Head.

A mysterious scholar -- Ridley Dow -- comes to Judd's run-down inn one day. He's come there to search for the magical bell that tolls every night.

Elsewhere in Sealey Head, Judd's childhood friend (and love interest) Gwyneth is fending off a boring suitor when she isn't spinning magical tales about that same bell. And up at Aislinn House, Lady Eglantine is dying, and her housemaid Emma is opening magical doors into another world -- a parallel Aislinn house, where the princess Ysabo is caged in a realm of mindless rituals and fearful traditions.

But things begin to change as Lady Eglantine's heir, Miranda Beryl, arrives with her friends and servants, and Ridley Dow's investigations take him into the magical other world. Someone strange and magical is lurking in the town, and old books and half-forgotten legends slowly unveil the sorcerer that cast a spell on the other Aislinn House...

There are actually two magical worlds in "The Bell At Sealey Head" -- one is a coastal town of tree houses, briny ships and folkloric mysteries. The other a dreamlike tangle of crows, rituals and spellbound knights, stuck in traditions with no meaning. It's a credit to McKillip's writing ability that she can make both worlds come alive, in their different ways.

McKillip wraps both worlds -- and all the subplots -- in her ornate rose-petal prose ("Little flecks of snow on the wind, and the last bitter black leaves falling in the lake, where the cold shield and the torn pennant lay..."). And she spins a complex, languidly-paced fantasy story that is far simpler than it seems, with people (good and bad alike) who are not what they seem, and magical passages that appear and vanish. And, of course, a bell ringing where no bells are.

But this is also perhaps McKillip's most humorous book -- she weaves in some mildly comic love triangles, an eccentric woodwitch living in a hollow tree, as well as Daria Sproule's romanticized fantasies ("Not my pirates. Mine would be well-brought-up, sensitive types...").

And the cast is as varied and likable as the settings -- Judd and Gwyneth are likable, down-to-earth types, with Gwyneth as something of an authorial insert. On the other side, Ysabo is an ordinary young girl who is struggling to break, especially since she's being forced to marry a cold knight. The fact that she never figures out what his name is tells you a lot.

It's the supporting characters who are more than they appear -- the seemingly chilly Miss Beryl, her creepy assistant, and the mild housemaid Emma. But it's Ridley Dow who really steals the show -- he's clever, secretive, funny and charming, but also incredibly strong-willed when the situation is dangerous and things are going strangely.

"The Bell At Sealey Head" is only one mystery among many, spun in silky prose and full of lyrical magic. Patricia A. McKillip hit the mark on this one.

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brilliant fantasy

The small fishing village of Sealey Head is not quite the quiet quaint place that visitors believe they see. Everyday at the last moment of sunset, a bell rings out but no one knows its origin or who is ringing the bell. Lady Eglantyne inhabits the grandest home Aislinn House in the village; she knows her days are ending soon and there is nothing the healer or herbalist can do that can prevent her demise.

The herbalist's daughter's maid Emma knows there is another Aislinn House within the one in the mortal realm; that resides in a realm filled with knights and rituals performed everyday. Emma has seen glimpses of this medieval world when she opens a door to find the Princess Yarbo inside the room; yet her highness cannot cross into the mortal realm.

Scholar Ridley Dole comes to the village fascinated with Aislinn House as he believes the place is under a spell where the inhabitants are regimented like puppets whose strings are being pulled. Ridley's ancestor Nemos Moore used magic to link the Aislinn Houses; he hopes to undo his work to save the people, but is unsure how and remains ignorant to a malevolent person hiding in plain sight who will kill him to insure the status quo remains.

Patricia A. McKillip is a brilliant fantasist who makes her two Aislinn Houses and their connection seem real. There are many interesting characters, not all human for instance the titled Bell, in this ensemble tale. Readers will ponder the source of the bell and what it means to both sides of the portal especially if it fails to ring. Somewhat a high fantasy with a minor romantic subplot, THE BELL AT SEALEY HEAD is a fabulous thriller that grips the audience from the first time the bell peals as fans will wonder "For Whom the Bell Tolls" if the ringing stops.

Harriet Klausner

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The Bell at Sealy Head

Sealey Head is no ordinary town. Every evening most of the townsfolk hear the tolling of a bell, no one knows why it rings or where it's at. It's been going on so long that many of the townspeople don't hear it anymore.

Aislinn House on the edge of town harbors a mystery. It's a place where two worlds coexist, with few privy to its secret. On one side lies the quiet manor with its aging servants and ailing mistress, while on the other a princess and her subjects must perform strange rites.

The links between two worlds are the princess, a maid and her mother who've been running into each other for years throughout the house. No one else in town knows their secret, but the arrival of a stranger in town sets off events that will change life in the house forever.

I've been a fan of Patricia McKillip's for years. This is a wonderful book bordering on high fantasy. Its charming fairy tale like character entertained me and held my interest to the very end. I highly recommend it.

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Brand new from the World Fantasy Award-winning author of Solstice Wood.

Sealey Head is a small town on the edge of the ocean, a sleepy place where everyone hears the ringing of a bell no one can see. On the outskirts of town is an impressive estate, Aislinn House, where the aged Lady Eglantyne lies dying, and where the doors sometimes open not to its own dusty rooms, but to the wild majesty of a castle full of knights and princesses?