Rating: *** 3 stars

Jamila Gavin,
The Bloodstone
Egmont, 2003.

The Blood Stone begins and ends in Venice of some unspecified bygone era and moves across to Hindustan of the same period. the story follows young Filippo as he ventures through many dangerous and enchanting lands in a desperate bid to save his family from his treachorous brother-in-law by rescuing the father who disappeared before he was born. In his skull Filippo carries his father's ransom - a diamond of astounding beauty with magical properties, his father's marriage-gift to his mother, the matriarch who has striven to hold her family together and keep alive the dwindling hope of her husband's return. The diamond is a 'blood stone' which both endangers Filippo's life because others will kill him for it, and enables him to survive because it allows him to see people and things as they truly are.

The Blood Stone is an enjoyable read because it is a story of adventure, love, courage, hope and friendship. It also provides a strong feel of what Europe and the East were like in times past, of the very different relationship which they had then from the one they have now. Despite all this, I frequently found my attention wandering from the Filippo's adventures or the developments back in Venice during his absence. The novel somehow lacks the effortlessly compelling drama of its predecessor, Gavin's justifiably highly acclaimed Coram Boy, which raised many interesting and important issues. This is perhaps unfair - using the masterpiece Coram Boy as a standard for judging all Gavin's subsequent work. Suffice it then to say that those who loved Coram Boy, will find this semifantasy a very different type of story altogether.

Shereen Pandit