cover image Crystal Spirit

Crystal Spirit

Roger Granelli. Learning Links, $25 (288pp) ISBN 978-1-85411-060-2

Spanning four decades, this solid but familiar first novel focuses on the immature, self-centered son of a Welsh coal miner who comes of age during the Spanish Civil War. Frustrated by his prospects--either following in his father's footsteps or becoming a shopkeeper--David Hicks longs to escape the Welsh valley, whose inhabitants ``do not see farther than their own skyline.'' But an affair with beautiful Emma Vincent leads to her pregnancy and a forced marriage, and a resentful David settles into provincial life. Becoming fascinated with the Spanish Popular Front and the civil war it is waging against Fascist rebels, David joins the International Brigade, deserts Emma and goes off to fight for Republican Spain. Eventually he becomes a noncombatant, a stretcher bearer, but is captured and imprisoned. Told in flashbacks framed by a visit to Spain by Emma and David after Franco's death, the story centers not so much on battle scenes as on David's emotional and psychological journey. Although Granelli, a native of Wales, breaks no new ground, he offers a skillful portrait of a man caught up in forces larger than himself. (Jan.)