From the Dust Returned

'At first, A Thousand Times Great Grandmere said, there was only a place on the long plains of grass and a hill on which nothing at all but more grass and a tree that was as crooked as a fork of black lightning on which nothing grew until the town came and the House arrived.' This is the House of the Elliott family, fantastic beings with arcane skills and bizarre lifestyles. The House is their refuge in an ever more unbelieving world where superstition relentlessly withers. There live Father who sleeps the days and Mother who never sleeps at all; Cecy, the Family's most special daughter with her talent for touching other people's ears, thence reaching inward to their minds and dreams; and Timothy, left in a picnic basket by the front iron gate, named after a saint with a special light and a promise of life. Timothy is not like the Family, but a normal boy whom they love anyway. He is bursting with excitement at the prospect of the Homecoming, when dozens of uncles, aunts and cousins will swarm the House on All Hallows Eve in dark celebration. This is the first novel in years from Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and Something Wicked This Way Comes amongst many others. It is a beautiful tale of the life story of the Elliott Family, chronicling its genesis and demise, its members' adventures and troubles. Some chapters have been previously published as short stories, as Bradbury has been revisiting his beloved Elliotts since 1945. The poetic rhythm drips through your mind and touches your heart, stirring hidden memories of delicious childhood, excitement and terror at the prospect of something dark. A wonderful story beautifully told. (Kirkus UK)