cover image Tell the Story to Its End

Tell the Story to Its End

Simon P. Clark. St. Martin’s Griffin, $18.99 (208p) ISBN 978-1-250-06675-6

Offering a spiral of stories within stories, this atmospheric first novel features a boy searching for truth, who gets sidetracked by a remarkable discovery. Narrator Oli is whisked away from London to a country town, where he and his mother pay an extended visit to Oli’s aunt and uncle. Oli doesn’t know why they left home or why his father didn’t accompany them, and no one will give him a straight answer. Everyone seems to have secrets, including Oli: he has met a creature named Eren in the attic, whose very survival seems to depend on hearing the stories Oli tells him. Philosophical musings about the purpose of storytelling can be a little overplayed and abstract (“Stories are the truth beyond the flat, stone world”), but Clark does an admirable job of conveying Oli’s wonder, confusion, and frustration as he strays farther and farther from reality. Echoing the surreal quality and settings of David Almond’s books, this novel adeptly mixes fantasy with reality and leaves some pressing questions unanswered. Ages 12–up. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency. (Oct.)