Back in the summer of 2010, I was at a family garden party for a birthday celebration, and my three sisters and I found ourselves talking about TV shows from our childhood.
I could hardly remember the programmes they recalled, I had no emotional attachment to most of those series at all, but I did remember "Children of the Stones" very vividly and with enormous affection. It was a really compelling drama, set quite locally for us (it was filmed in Avebury, Wilts) and given that this was a children's TV series, it was incredibly cool. I would have been about 13 when it was broadcast, in 1977 and I'm sure I wasn't the only teenager desperately hoping for a second series. Sadly it never came.
But imagine my joy, when I discovered last year that Jeremy Burnham had written and published a sequel! Set some 30 years on, Matthew now lives in America with a teenage son of his own, Tom (his ex-wife sounds rather cold and hostile), and the two are invited to Milbury by his father Adam, who, it transpires, had gone on to marry museum curator Margaret (ahhhh, I love a happy ending) though she's sadly died in a car accident a few years ago (ohhh dear, well, they did have some lovely years together.) The renowned astrophysicist also went on to buy the Manor House at Milbury, and lives there with step-daughter Sandra (now a doctor) and her adopted daughter, Khonsu.
Matthew has mixed feelings about returning to the village, and in particular the Manor House, while Tom feels strangely drawn to the place, thanks to bizarre events involving an online virtual game he's been playing.
When Matt and Sandra are reunited for the first time since their teenage days, both are instantly aware of a great bond between them again, and similarly, Tom and Su discover they have a lot in common also. Against such a heavy backdrop of science, those tender little moments, where characters are pondering their human feelings for one another, help us connect with protagonists, and genuinely care what happens to them.
Somewhat inevitably, as soon as Matthew and Tom arrive, unusual things start happening again, and before long there's a whole new mystery engulfing them, and us, and another scary one, at that. Tension builds, as the chapters unfold and everything reaches a weird and terrifying climax, on midsummer's day, with lives in peril, once again.
A compelling read, particularly if you, like me, have affection for the original TV drama, with lovely little cameos from Mrs Crabtree and Dai, this novel left me pining for a film adaptation of the sequel. Set decades on, I would imagine, in theory, many of the original cast would be able to play their original characters. What a lovely reunion that would be, though as I write, I have no idea what ever became of Peter Demin who portrayed Matthew and Katharine Levy who played Sandra. What a treat, to have them all together again.
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