The Hunt for the Skallagrigg (Skallagrigg - William Horwood)

Name: aefra

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Product:	Skallagrigg - William Horwood
Date:	03/04/03 (1021 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A memorable story, beautifully written

Disadvantages: **

I first read this book, written in 1987, while I still I had an aversion to computers for the reason that some still do. I mistrusted their mystery and just saw a screen which flashed instructions to the operator because I hadn't noticed the box at the side which was the business end. This story introduced me to the allure of computer games, although I still do not play them. Beside this tale filled with human endeavour, is running the increasingly complex levels of such a game as we near our goal.

Who or what is the Skallagrigg? Arthur who became Eddie held its distant memory tightly to him until his sharing of its wonder spread as a myth throughout a grim mental institution, then outwards and on down the decades until his story became a faith closely held from the able bodied to be called upon in moments of despair.

Our journey to find the Skallagrigg begins in 1927 as Arthur who was to become Eddie, a little boy with cerebral palsy, is taken from his home to abandonment in one of the hellish mental asylums of the time. Unable to speak clearly, with jerking limbs and a useless body, he is condemned - as a "congenital idiot" - to suffer appalling lonliness, indignity and abuse. He has one precious memory to sustain him during his suffering. He pictures in his mind the long wooden fence,the meadow beyond and the red poppies which grew in the high swaying grass. Close by is the Skallagrigg, although Arthur can no longer see his face or form. Knowing that the Skallagrigg can rescue him and take him home, Arthur calls out to him in his direst moments. It is only when despair leads him to the point of death that the Skallagrigg answers him and becomes an unshakeable faith.

It is 50 years later when we first meet Esther Marquand, a 17 year old girl also born with cerebral palsy, but whose gifted mind is recognised in enlightened days. In distress after a minor accident which leaves her helpless for a while, she cal
ls upon the Skallagrigg and in an awsome moment of insight knows that he exists, as does Arthur somewhere; that the stories she has heard during her life are not apocryphal. Esther's quest to find Arthur and the Skallagrigg whatever it takes will carry us far, transform the lives of those around her and I hope leave the reader in wonderment, as it did myself.

As Esther nears her goal in the hunt for the Skallagrigg she gives a promise that she will not divulge the secret. To do so would imperil her search. Yet she has learned enough to know that there is one person in the world who has a right to know. She encapsulates the story in a computer game of such subtlety and complexity that it can only be broken by the one who can recognise and continue the search for himself. The chances of this happening are almost nil, but our narrator is wrenched by evocative memory when hearing the name of the game and so joins Arthur and Esther on their journey.

During Esther's research of the Skallagrigg stories, we learn of Arthur's life within an unknown institution which is a relic of the Victorian madhouses. Among those who share his daily life is Dilke, a sadistic staff nurse whose physical and psychological cruelty makes Percy Wetmore from the Green Mile seem a pretty nice guy. His name had become part of the idiom and wardens such as he are called dilkes to this day. Reoccurring within the account of Esther's own story we live with Arthur in an enclosed, terrifyingly helpless world which nonetheless includes humour alongside a redoubtable spirit.

This is not a sad story, although the horrors of Arthur's life within the asylum are graphically portrayed and we suffer and endure with him. Rather this is a story of triumph, achievement and conquest. William Horwood peoples his stories with characters thoughtfully introduced, so that we know them as he does. Although the book is well populated, the characters are
few enough for the reader to handle ( I remember trawling back through Dicken's Great Expectations to try to remember who "Trabb's boy" was). He immerses us in their personalities, thoughts, beliefs, accomplishments and disappointments so completely that we travel with them rather than having the overview which some writers give us. For this reason we do not move ahead of the plot and the reader, already lost within the story or just cruising for a few pages, can be catapulted into revelation and acknowledgement with an emotional jolt which takes the breath away.

Like Esther's complex game, the search for the Skallagrigg has to be undertaken with subtlety, steadfastness, the ability to negotiate ambiguities and to leap the widest gap of all. For to find the Skallagrigg we have to find Arthur...... and Arthur is of the past and became Eddie.

I will not spoil things by telling you too much. Only that this incredible story is generous to the reader. Just as we think that we have found all we need, that we have reached our goal after a long journey in which we have experienced love, courage and much endurance there is more. We are given just time enough to catch our breath before William Horwood starts on the last road to an ending which left me unable to close the book for a while.

For more than 700 pages I joined a search which became a mission and finally a pilgrimage. This book is among the few on my special shelf and I have read it a few times over the years. Each time I have found myself pulled into a rollercoaster of emotion. Not because it is sad, but because William Horwood's intuitive and empathic writing moves and uplifts me as would the most heartwarming music. It helps that his own daughter, Rachel has cerebral palsy, which gives him a special insight. This book has power without weight and I did not experience a wasted or ineffectual line.


Skallagrigg may be purchased fro
m Amazon for £7.99.

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