The Storm and the Minotaur; Lucy Strange, illustrated by Pam Smy

Lucy Strange has a gift for taking moments and significant events from the past and crafting them into captivating novellas for modern day readers making reading engaging and educational. Her first collaboration with Barrington Stoke, The Mermaid in the Millpond, was a brilliant exploration of life and times in the cotton mills of Victorian Britain. This time, she delivers a haunting and eerie story within a Welsh mining community that has an all too real tragedy at its heart.

Money is tight for George and his family and his dreams of learning more have to be put on hold when he is forced to take a job down the local coal mine with his dad. The days are long, dark and dangerous and when a storm floods the mine, George is faced with life or death decisions. Trapped with little chance of escape, a shadowy figure, one that seems strangely familiar to George, is beckoning him. Should George trust the minotaur? Will it guide him to safety or is George destined to meet the same tragic fate as his long-lost uncle…

Sombre, heartfelt and hopeful; Lucy Strange finds light amongst the darkness. In another superlative and accessible Barrington Stoke read, a master storyteller weaves historical event with Greek myth in a moving exploration of family, poverty, harsh realities, young hopes and incredible acts of bravery.

Capturing the readers attention right from the start before bringing them, and the child protagonists, through to a safe ending, The Storm and the Minotaur is enthralling. Hearts will be racing and pulses pounding as the utterly gripping race-for-survival meters below ground unfolds. Proving books don’t have to be long to be brilliant, this brims with peril, is fraught with tension and overflows with emotion.

Hard hitting at times, touching and moving at others, Lucy has crafted a wonderful story that is beautifully embellished by Pam Smy’s stunning and atmospheric illustrations that help readers visualise life, both at home and at work, for the mining community. A different era that, despite all of the differences from the world today, is not that long ago is richly evoked here.

Life in the mines was extremely dangerous, the conditions awful and the work back-breaking. And whilst George’s story is fictional, the sobering truths that Lucy portrays, accompanied by a moving historical note that references the Huskar Pit tragedy, leave little to the imagination and do not shy away from life down the mines. Impactful and poignant, it offers an excellent starting point for discussing working conditions and what life as a child could be like making it a superb text to accompany a Victorian era study.

Recommended for 9+.

With huge thanks to Barrington Stoke for the copy I received in exchange for an honest review.