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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A most engaging and thought provoking read, 7 Jun 2005
Disaster strikes couple Oliver and Rowan when their child, Ben, is snatched from them amongst the bustle of a London train station leading Oliver to undertake a determined one man search to find his son.What follows is a thorough look at contemporary England from a variety of viewpoints. In his efforts to find his son, Oliver - a songwriter who had recently moved with his wife into a dilapidated farm in rural England in an attempt to escape the town lifestyle and start afresh - is drawn back into the urban England that he had so recently tried to escape, only now he must venture deeper into the sinister and violent inner city world than he has ever been before. His distraught wife, Rowan, is left to seek comfort and normality in the English town to which they'd recently moved, in a rural community that is still only cautiously accepting them. While their child, Ben, innocently accepts life with the group of inner-city squatters that lead him away from his mother. The determination of Oliver's passionate quest to find his son, the emotional efforts of Rowan to come to terms with the disaster of having their son stolen and seek comfort and acceptance in their new community, and the roguery and misdemeanour of a rag-tag group of inner-city squatters viewed through the eyes of a child make The English Dragon a thoroughly engaging read. Coupled with the characters that they each meet and the situations that they encounter, The English Dragon provides a thought provoking look at contemporary rural and urban England, the directions in which the English are headed and a critique of what currently passes for 'English' culture. A most engaging and thought provoking read.
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