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

David came to the kitchen at about eleven o'clock, looking the worse for his long lie-in. Toula had returned from her shopping expedition and looked surprised to see him.


'Oh,' she exclaimed, 'I thought you had gone with the others.'


David helped himself to some fruit and a glass of juice and watched Toula putting away her shopping.


'Why, where have they gone?' he asked in surprise. 


'I don't know really,' Toula admitted, 'Yiayia said they went out early while I was out.'


'Hmph! They've got a nerve not waiting for me,' said David but had to admit he had overslept that morning. Since he had come to Crete he had eschewed his usual bad habits. It was so much easier to get up early when the weather was warm and the sun shining in a blue sky but today was cold, grey and damp. No wonder he had thought he was back home in England again. Still, they might have brought him a cuppa or something and let him know where they were going.


Chapter 44: David discovers his sister is missing