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Title details for Black Dove by Colin McAdam - Available

Black Dove

by Colin McAdam
Colin McAdam
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
In a tall and narrow house, on a stained and busy street, live twelve-year-old Oliver and his father, a story-loving writer. Haunted by the ghost of his alcoholic mother, Oliver finds comfort in his father's impromptu tales: the Black Dove, an elusive flower that gives strength; the girl who consumes it as she battles attackers and yearns for happier realms. Stories where lonely souls keep searching despite their losses and grief. Running from a bully one night, Oliver hides in a junk shop owned by an enigmatic man. Soon, instead of hiding in the janitor's closet after school, Oliver spends afternoons in the shop, a cavernous place full of storied oddities and grubby wonders where creatures rise up from the basement. A snake in the shape of a boy. A hunter named Night, part panther, part hound, who proves to Oliver that the world holds invisible wonder. Wanting to forget his mother, afraid of his own genes, constantly harassed by bullies, Oliver joins the shop owner in experimenting with dangerous forms of genetic editing. Meanwhile, he meets the girl from across the street, and their friendship grows in a neighborhood where magic is real, where murderers gather, and where the darker consequences of fantasies play out.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 1, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781696610872
      • File size: 252394 KB
      • Duration: 08:45:49

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 20, 2023
      McAdam (A Beautiful Truth) chronicles a boy’s magical transformation in this brooding, memorable outing. Oliver is regularly hunted by school bully Murdoch in the rundown neighborhood where he lives with his widower father. While escaping the bullies, Oliver hides out in a junk shop where Geppetto-like owner Allele Princeps offers protection. After Oliver shares details of his life with Allele, including torments from Murdoch and his late mother’s alcoholism, the shopkeeper reveals a dog he bred with a forked tongue and asks Oliver if he’d like to be bigger and stronger. Oliver regularly visits the shop, and soon Allele begins performing genetic experiments on him. In chapters from Allele’s point of view, the shopkeeper recounts his previous work as a genetic researcher, which inspired him to create the “perfect boy” and “give strength to the weak.” Once Oliver is equipped with newfound strength and, among other attributes, fangs, he gains the confidence to court the girl next door before a bloody showdown with Murdoch. Some of the allegorical aspects are a bit murky, but there are plenty of rewarding details of Oliver’s hardscrabble survival and transformation. Readers will be enchanted by this dark adventure. Douglas Stewart, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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