Chosen by Lesley Glaister

Chosen

Lesley Glaister

This the story of Bella and her family; sweet and hypnotic like the tea drank by the Soul Life brethren and the words spoken by their leader Bogart...both bringing uneasy dreams and a strange dependency

Extract
There were colourless crabs scuttling on the sand, and hanging in the water like a feather, a tiny swaying fish.
It was a whole miniature world with business going on as usual – until I moved and my shadow startled the fish and the crabs away. Adam didn’t stir for hours and I didn’t want to disturb him. I went for a walk along the beach and then return to the house to eat a hunk of bread and cheese and doze on deck chair on the lawn. When I woke up, Adam was sitting on the step with a cup of tea. His eyes were blazing with incredible light and I’ve never seen such joyous smile. ‘There was a heron’. A ripple of laughter came out with his voice. ‘Naturally,’ I said. I sat beside him and licked the sunny saltiness of his skin. ‘It was Jesus and we spoke and spoke and the messages, it’s incredible, everything is clear now, everything is different. We have to go to America,’ he said.
Parallels
  • Unless by Carol Shields
  • Beyond black by Hilary Mantel