It is May 1977, a quiet house in the English Cotswolds. Emily,an emotionally fragile,gentle, nature-loving girl, is approaching her eighteenth birthday. Her father, Martin, has become worried about her since the death of her mother, as she has begun to walk in her sleep and says she sees her mother’s ghost. When Martin gets the chance to join his friend Barnaby on an archaeological dig on Crete, he welcomes Emily’s suggestion that she and her older brother David join him out there. Staying with their father’s Greek friends, Emily and David are introduced to the thoughtful young son of the family, Petros, who is prepared to go along with David’s constant quest for fun and girls but who falls in love with the shy, distant Emily. When the siblings notice a mysterious island in the bay, now deserted and a source of superstitious fear among the local villagers, David is eager to explore it, despite Petros’ warnings, but Emily feels afraid and troubled. Eventually the island draws them in, and soon Manolis, a local fisherman who is obsessed with the island for his own reasons, leads them all into a terrifying adventure. The story winds its way through Cretan labyrinths to a strange and surprising conclusion. 
Suitable for age 16+ Some mild sexual scenes and one violent scene

The Glass Madonna is created by Loretta Proctor, an eGlobal Creative Publishing Signed Author



The Glass Madonna

The boys were taking out the two German girls for a farewell dinner in Merounda. Emily had no wish to come, though out of politeness the girls had asked her. She said her farewells to them with little regret on either side and watched the four of them set off in a taxi to the town. Petros felt no inclination to be with Brigit but made up the foursome and promised himself lots of beer and wine and crude, cheerful sex on the beach afterwards. Something had to give. He told himself he needed it and Brigit was always willing to oblige.


Emily turned back into the villa and as she went in she recalled something her father had told her about Knossos. Youth, he had said, seemed to be quite a cult and so they worshipped Zeus in his youthful form as Kouros, the Great Kouros.


'It's a bit like nowadays,' he'd smiled, 'youth is quite a cult now, don't you think? The beauty of youth and vigour and perfect forms.'


Chapter 26: Martin explains the meaning of the Kouros