The Enchanted Grove (by Stephen Hayes)

(Amazon UK link)

When we lived in the United States for a couple of years, almost three decades ago, I first became involved with email and ‘bulletin boards’ which were the precursor to online forums or groups. I’m still in touch with some of the folk I ‘met’ there, where we had many interesting discussions and debates. One of them is Steve Hayes, who is a not-quite-retired teacher and writer in South Africa. In recent years he has published a couple of children’s novels; this is the second of them.

A few years ago I downloaded and read Steve’s first children’s book, ‘Of Wheels and Witches’. It was set in the apartheid era of South Africa, and while I never quite decided what age-group it was intended for, it was an exciting story, one that I thought excellent from a social history point of view. So when the sequel, ‘The Enchanted Grove’ was offered as a free download last month, I acquired my copy, put it on my Kindle, and kept it to read while travelling recently.

The book, which is set in 1964, opens in a boring Latin lesson at Jefferey’s boarding school. He’s daydreaming, and thinks about his previous adventure. It’s not necessary to have read the earlier book, but references are made to it, and I usually find that reading books in the intended order gives a greater depth to the characters. Jefferey, we learn, is eleven, and once again is going to stay with Mrs Sanderson on a farm; this time for the Christmas holidays.

Despite being so young, Jefferey was rather keen on one of Mrs Sanderson’s neighbours, a young girl called Janet. For some reason he decides to send her a postcard reminding her of one of the scarier parts of their previous adventure. It's not exactly a romantic gesture, and Janet is quite upset when she receives it. But, inevitably, she, Jefferey and Mrs Sanderson’s niece Catherine get together and embark on another adventure.

I thought the book took awhile to get going, although the early chapters help to establish both Jefferey and Janet as important characters. And once again I really couldn’t decide what age group would be best suited to read it: with the main characters aged ten and eleven, it would be most likely to be read by children of around eight to ten. But the underlying theme, and the reason for the adventure is a political one which would go right over the heads of most children I know.

As with the earlier book, this is set in a realistic location; at the end, the author explains that the larger villages and towns referenced are real and can be found on a map. However the smaller locations and all the people are imaginary, although the political background is, I gather, entirely correct. I didn’t understand why political infighting related to elections in Lesotho could lead to kidnappings, voodoo and potential violence (or worse) but accepted it as being the case.

Once the adventures begin, it’s quite a tense novel, one that I found difficult to put down at times. Other children’s books set in this kind of era often use the real world with just a few magical or enchanted elements, and this is no exception. The mystical theme is strong: the idea of cursing items or finding guidance from a glass seem a tad bizarre to me, but they work well in the context of the story.

There’s also a low-key Christian theme; Catherine and her aunt say prayers nightly, and there are friendly creatures, apparently manifestations of saints, who appear, at times, to help. And at one point Jefferey realises the importance of doing the loving thing even to someone who has always been his enemy.

The plotting is well done, with the children escaping multiple times from dangerous situations, only to find themselves in a worse one before the next chapter ends. I didn’t much like the way that almost all the policemen and other officials appear to be corrupt, and I sometimes lost track of who was whom. But it didn’t much matter - the story revolves around the children.

All in all, I’m glad I read it. Recommended if you like books with a low-key mystical element, and are interested in juvenile fiction set in South Africa.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews