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

Emily rose and followed her into a tiny room at the back of the house. It seemed rather bare at first, possibly once a storeroom. A small wooden table and rush-bottomed chair were the only furniture. The table was covered with a dark velvet cloth. The windows had their shutters half drawn so that the light in the room was cool and shadowy. Thin slanting rays of sunlight penetrated the gloom, became caught in the unreflective blackness of the velvet cloth and were swallowed up into darkness. 


The walls too were bare apart from a small wooden wall cupboard near the door. Areti opened this cupboard and brought forth a large globe of crystal. Emily looked at it entranced. She had always wanted to see a crystal ball. If only Areti would let her look in it!


Areti set it down on the table, on a small circular support that formed a base for it. She beckoned to Emily.


'Look into it but don't touch it,' she said.


Chapter 23: A strange,disturbing Vision