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

In the morning, the boys were still asleep and snoring. Emily rose early and decided to walk down to the harbour and watch all the fishermen cleaning their boats and mending their nets after the night of fishing. She loved the view of the bay that swept round like a magic, protective circle, the sharpness of the horizon on a splendid morning and the sea a sapphire blue that was so intense she wanted to lose herself in it. Even the island was growing on her and seemed less appalling since she had heard its ancient story. Now it was the Golden Isle in her mind, not a leper colony. The lepers had only been there a very short while. Their pitiful history was just one part of the island and its chequered history. So small a place and yet so many types of people had lived on there. 


Chapter 27: Manolis tells Emily his story