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

It was Emily who recovered her nerve first. She walked further into the room and shone her torch on the enthroned figure. Whoever she was, she had long been dead and yet the skin still stretched over the bones like parchment or leather, mummified in the cold, dry airlessness of the sealed-off cave. The clothing also remained fairly intact  amazing clothing by the look of it, faded into a dull green though patches remained a bright emerald. There was a beautiful headdress of peacock feathers on the woman's head, her long dark hair spread about her shoulders like a cloak.


'That's horrible! Let's get out of here,' said David recoiling in revulsion.


Petros's stomach had turned right over. But he refused to seem weak when Emily, of all people, had walked right up to the body and was examining it so coolly. How the hell did she do it? She was her father's daughter all right, born to be an archaeologist, able to look undaunted on such terrifying sights. 


Chapter 39: Fleeing from the island