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Amazon.co.uk Review
Accompanied by atmospheric and sweeping illustrations of summer landscapes and superb Italianate views, this is an unforgettable tale of a childhood romance which captures the hearts and minds of adults and children alike. --Philippa Reece
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Valerie is a young girl who is drastically lonely - she has no friends, her father (who we never see in the book and is only mentioned once) works in the hotel business, and her mother is a 'beautiful American... who breakfasted late, then drove out to meet her friends'. Therefore, on one of her regular walks through the park with her governess, she declares her love and friendship to her favourite stone statue - a youth riding a dolphin - and names him Cherubino. The following day, the statue is gone, leaving only the stone dolphin, but on running away through the hedge garden, Valerie finds none other than a flesh-and-blood Cherubino before her!
After she rescues him from the dark, stale orphanage, Cherubino takes up residence in the gardener's home, where the two children meet by night to discuss all manner of things. Here is when Cherubino reveals he is the son of a sea god, who had been a stone statue for many hundreds of years (unfortunatly, we never learn how this occured or why) before being freed by Valerie. Accompaning Valerie and her family on a visit to the seaside Cherubino is angered by the use of the beach - hotels and villas and automobiles and runs away.
Valerie despairs of ever seeing him again, till by night he returns once more, explaining to her he is going to return to his homeland, making it green and fertile once more, but leaving her with some beautiful parting words: "Sea gods can love humans sometimes, you know...And when we do, we have very long memories." With the promise of one day being together once more, Valerie finds the stone dolphin (now desposited in the untended gardens of the park) and together, they await Cherubino's return.
As you can see, the story is not filled with climaxes and surprises - I did not mean to write out the entire summary in this review, but found I had to because there are no dramatic points to leave the reader hanging with. It is mellow, calm and meandering - a book to be read on a lazy summer day, not as a bed time story. In some way, it is like a fine wine - it grows richer each time you read it, resonancing deeper each time - I myself get more moved at Cherubino's parting with Valerie and his promise for the future. This is the positive way of looking at the story - some may feel frustrated at its pace, the not-quite-realised relationship between between the two children (Hughes leaves their bond mostly unspoken) and I know I did get a little tired of the continual pattern of Cherubino running away or getting taken away - it happens four times!
However, I severely disagree with the editorial reviews that claim Shirley Hughes's illustrations don't match the story - I think they do beautifully. She has spent summers painting in Italy, and everything from her gardens to her beaches, her estates to her oceans, by day or by night evoke all kinds of feelings and atmospheres. I especially love her formal-yet-somehow-wild gardens and the Greek statues whose eyes seem to watch Valerie where-ever she goes, and her vast, moody oceans in which humans seem hopelessly insignificent by comparison.
Basically, the verdict is this: if you read this book critically, it will disappoint, but if you take the wiser approach and read it without bias or strictness - simply letting yourself drift through the words and pictures - you and your kids will love it.
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