Sunday, June 25, 2006

The Shadow of the Bear

Furor asked about The Shadow of the Bear, so I am going to try to summarize it, but if anyone has more to add please do.

The story is centered around two teenage girls, Rose and Blanche Brier, and their widowed mother who recently moved to New York city. One stormy winter evening a strange visitor comes to their door. They make friends with this mysterious young man who calls himself Bear, and over the course of the winter they have many visits consisting largely of long talks. They are all well-read and particularly enjoy G. K. Chesterton who often comes into conversation.
Bear does not say much about himself except that he was in Juvenile detention for drug possession and that he is into the same kind of books as the girls such as Chesterton and Shakespeare. Then in the spring Bear's visits become less frequent and finally cease. Rose, aided by Blanche, after hearing more and more stories about Bear's past, is determined to find out about him, and to prove that Bear was not involved in drugs. However these things are not always safe, as the girls are soon to learn, in fact in the adventure that ensues the girls' lives, as well as those of Bear and his brother, are at stake.

There, that's the best I can do, not very good, but you can learn more about it here (the author's website) and here ( a review by Bethlehem Books, the publisher.) Also I hope that we will get at least one alternate review on here. There is also an audio drama which you can listen to samples of and purchase here.

3 comments:

Nick Milne said...

Thanks, Ria. I'll be sure to look into it once I get some money coming in again, or possibly see if the library has it. It sounds like a novel and engaging idea.

RED said...

Good review, Ria! The only things I’d like to add are that it’s based on the fairy tale “Snow White and Rose Red”, and that there’s a sequel called Black as Night.

Sean P. Dailey said...

Please pray for Regina Doman, author of The Shadow of the Bear, her husband Andrew and their whole family: their young son Joshua Michael was killed in a car accident last weekend.