'Clay' by David Almond

'Clay' by David Almond, tells the story of thirteen year old Davie, his friend Geordie and the new arrival in town - Stephen Rose. Before Stephen came along Davie and Geordie were two average altar boys that loved getting tips from grieving customers.

Stephen Rose comes from a troubled background and appears to be a little bit older than the two boys. His dad is dead, and his mother has gone mad - and rumour has it that he was responsible for both occurrences. Stephen has to live his aunt, a local woman known as Crazy Mary, which doesn't help stop the gossip about Stephen.

Geordie becomes jealous when Stephen befriends Davie. Stephen, who is quiet and has a talent for sculpting clay into scarily realistic models, scares away the bullies from Pelaw. Mouldy, a sixteen year old Protestant that constantly smelled of beer, and his gang often chased Davie and Geordie, looking for a fight.

Stephen tells tales of angels and of his time spent in a school designed specifically for training boys to become priests. Davie is intrigued and often repulsed by Stephen. On one occasion Stephen kisses Davie, which causes Davie’s sort-of-girlfriend and Geordie to stop talking to Davie. One night, Stephen and Geordie create a monster out of clay.

The next morning, Mouldy is found dead. It seems as though Mouldy fell off the edge of the quarry, but Davie believes different.

Set in the 1960’s in the Catholic community of Felling, ‘Clay’ attracts its readers with it’s original and fascinating plot and immense dialogue. ‘Clay’ is sometimes confusing, and some parts will take longer for a reader to digest and realise what is actually happening. David Almond is an extremely talented writer, the mind behind ‘Skellig’ and ‘Heaven Eyes’, and ‘Clay’ is a phenomenal read and shouldn’t be missed.