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 two men wrestled, the younger man fit and strong but Manolis the more wily. In despair, Emily took up a stone and threw it at him. It merely glanced on the side of his head but was enough to distract him and Petros knocked the knife flying from his hand. Emily ran to take it and running up to the walls, threw it as far away as she could. It bounced along the rocks and over the cliff side into the sea.


'That knife would have been handy,' Manolis said with a curse, mopping the trickle of blood from his head with a handkerchief. 'Why throw it away, you silly girl?'


Manolis rubbed his wrist where Petros had twisted it in his effort to get the knife away and cursed again. 'Not I! He can come with us and be useful now he's here. We'll need someone strong.'


Chapter 43: Searching for treasure together