It's a pleasure to revisit the world of Talliston and take part in the Blogtour The Stranger's Door to Talliston by John Tarrow.
The Stranger's Door To Talliston is a YA fantasy adventure set in Britain's most extraordinary home: Talliston House & Gardens. It is both sequel & prequel to The Stranger’s Guide To Talliston (2019) & Letters From The Labyrinth (2020) books.
John Tarrow is a storyteller, poet, shaman, award-winning author and creator of Britain’s most extraordinary home; Talliston House & Gardens. The Stranger's Door To Talliston Buy: mybook.to/TheStrangersDoor More info: John Tarrow - linktr.ee/JohnTarrow
It is Twelfth Night 1590 and thirteen-year-old Bríane races to save her grandmother from execution for crimes of witchcraft. Only one thing can prove her innocence; a magical grimoire owned by the town’s dark and sinister lord. In the attempt the girl loses the precious book at a crossroad of all worlds called The Forest of Doors. Can she locate the spell book in time to save Old Mother Moore from her terrible fate? Or will she fall victim to the wood’s dark and dangerous puzzle of doors and rooms?
Both sequel and prequel to The Stranger’s Guide To Talliston, this new story revisits many of the original thirteen locations but in entirely different moments – plus adds two dozen new rooms in its extraordinary expanded universe. Starting in Elizabethan Essex, The Stranger’s Door To Talliston goes deeper into the mysteries, adventures and heroes battling to save the last magical places on Earth.
The house - The novel is inspired by and set inside a unique and amazing house and gardens. Talliston was a 25-year project that took the UK’s most ordinary house and transformed it, room by room, by ordinary people on an ordinary budget, into Britain’s Most Extraordinary Home.
Starting as a three-bedroomed, semi-detached, ex-council house in Essex, today not a single square centimetre of the original house remains. In its place is an extraordinary labyrinth of locations, each set in different times and places.
At a time when the oppression and subjugation of girls and women are at the forefront of the majority of political, religious and social agendas, witchcraft seems like the obvious place to go. At the heart of this tale is Briane trying desperately to save her grandmother from the accusation of witchcraft and planned execution because of said accusation.
Being bold enough to steal the solution means she is in the crosshairs of accusations and threats levelled against her, and when she loses the grimoire that holds the solution to her problems, there begins a journey of confusion and desperation.
I'm going to go back to something I said about the Stranger's Guide to Talliston - It's an intricate, fascinating and ambitious YA fantasy. I can understand wanting everything in one story or book, however the sheer magnitude of ideas and worlds probably needed more depth and page space. A series of books perhaps or this one and then a series of books with a focus on a different area each time. - And although this one has more of main character at the core with the worlds revolving around her as she is hurtled to and fro - the point remains the same.
It offers such a wide range of context, concepts, worlds and forever intertwining thoughts and ideas, that it sometimes feels like riding a complex rollercoaster with spontaneous destination stops - and yet they are all connected. It's a book and series I would recommend to older teens, advanced fantasy buffs, then again it is also the kind of book that has the ability to create a lover of complex plots.
I'm intrigued to see where Tarrow will take the Chronicles next and remain intrigued by Talliston - the amazing house a visual concept and inspiration to art and soul.
Buy The Stranger's Door To Talliston at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd; pub date 25 Sept. 2024. Buy at Amazon com.
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