SUSPENSION By Andrea Faye Christians
‘Dreams are often strange’ – a near credible fantasy
Welsh born author Andrea Faye Christians served in a career in British radio including BBC before moving to Malta and then Sicily where she now writes novels. SUSPENSION is her literary debut.
Time travel fantasies succeed best when the characters involved are realistically defined before the credibility challenge is introduced. Andrea understands that factor and opens her tale with verismo style – ‘It was happening again. The taste of wine lingered on her lips. Never mix weed and alcohol. She should’ve known better. Last time the experience had been amazing but not worth the headache that had followed. Floating, looking down on her sleeping form, she observed, from a different perspective, the obscure detail of peeling paint next to the window where damp was creeping in, the broken ceramic tile in the kitchen, and the solitary, unwashed glass, and plate in the sink as the electric fan heater droned in the background. A lot of people sleep pretty, but she wasn’t one of them …she was dreaming her own death!….This whole dream within a dream was becoming more of a nightmare with every moment that passed.’
Preparing the reader with a near visual life-quasi-death transition, Andrea succeeds in creating a story that involves as well as entertains. The plot – ‘When Carla Thompson falls asleep and doesn’t wake up, she is shocked to discover what destiny has in store for her. Suspended between two worlds, she meets Isambard Brunel, the legendary eighteenth-century civil engineer, who built the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, and who now serves as guardian of its secrets. Historical events intertwine with Carla’s current reality and along the way she discovers a murder, encounters a host of characters including Jamaican psychic, Matilda, and engages in verbal banter with literary legend, Ernest Hemingway. Her adventures lead her to a startling revelation about why she was chosen for her strange new role. In death Carla realizes she has never felt more alive.’
A remarkably fine debut, this book – thankfully – is the first in a series called Time Binder. Andrea Faye Christians steps onto the literary stage with assurance with this skillfully created novel. Highly recommended.
