Alice wanted to write a book about a perfect summer by the sea. She didn’t think it would be about magic, bones and death...
Alice wanted to write a book about a perfect summer by the sea. She didn’t think it would be about magic, bones and death...
Gothic, Horror, Supernatural
''It all began when we found the bones…'' This is the start of Erosion, a gothic novel set on the English coast, in 1987, the year of the Great Storm. Violent weather is but one of the problems a group of friends face when they discover an ancient grave inside a crumbling cliff and decide to unearth a skull. Supernatural mystery intertwines with the problems of human relationships, of earning money, of following dreams.
Alison wants to spend a glorious summer writing her novel, Asher wants to wow audiences with his comedy routines, Zoe wants to make a living as an artist, Jo wants to make the world a better place and Baz just wants to help his friends succeed, but the events that happen change all their plans.
Death and destruction test the bonds of friendship, yet moments of beauty entwine with scenes of horror as a magical summer becomes an autumn of devastation.
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“Erosion captures the reader’s interest from the very beginning, drawing them in with the force of a tidal wave. Once opened, the book is hard to put down: the style and suspense cast their enchantment. The bohemian setting of a rundown tourist village, the protagonists’ young age and dreamy demeanor are artfully contrasted by dark overtones foreshadowing impending drama. Dreams and hidden ambitions erode friendships, unchecked emotions become flammable materials, little lies snowball, and play-pretend turns serious when dabbling with necromancy escapes control. Values are revisited as the protagonists learn important life lessons. With Erosion, Lucya Starza takes the reader into a psychological liminal space where the line between magic and mundane has become indistinguishable.” ~ Daniela Simina, author of Pagan Portals – Where Fairies Meet: Parallels between Irish and Romanian Fairy Traditions, and A Fairy Path: The Memoir of a Young Fairy Seer in Training
A post-uni Bildungsroman, Lucya Starza’s Erosion explores the moral and existential choices that life presents. It draws the reader on with its easy style, engaging storyline and strong undercurrent of magical practices. Alison arrives in a run-down coastal town in 1980s Kent, hoping to write a novel. Instead, she falls in with a close-knit group of friends, amongst whom is a witch who lives on the edge of a cliff…an ancient skull is found, there are rituals, seances and deaths, friendships broken and re-made. Alison is propelled on a journey of personal transformation, as she is confronted with the great themes of truthfulness, fate and free will, to which the author gives no easy answers. On one level, this a simple tale, simply (and very readably) told, yet psychological and moral depths emerge as the story unfolds. ~ Barry Goddard, author of The Medicine Wheel, and Surfing the Galactic Highways: Adventures in Divinatory Astrology
An elegiac tale of memory, growth and regret set along the crumbling coast of 1980s Kent. ~ Ben Aaronovitch, author of The Rivers of London
