The Bell at Sealey Head

This year I discovered Patricia mcKillip reading "The Riddle master" trilogy...and what a discover she was! After that I started trying to pick all her books I can find. Since here in Italy there are few of them I bought most of them in English. "The Bell at Sealey Head" is her more recent book, and like her other stories it entwines love, romance, magic. Here we are in a small town by the sea, where an unseen bell rings every day at sunset. A scholar coming from a city nearby arrives in town trying to solve this mistery. You will follow the story from the perspective of a young innkeeper who loves books, a merchant's daughter who love writing stories and a housemaid who opens doors in another world. Once more McKillip's poetry enchants the reader bringing him in a small world full of magic and unforgettable characters

The book flowed smoothly and the writing was at once poetic and easy to read. I love her writing style and would recommend this book to anyone.

This subtle and beautifully written novel fits perfectly in Ms. McKillip's canon of books. The bell that rings each evening has always been a part of the lives of the residents of Sealey Head. Some don't even hear it any more. But no one knows where the bell is. No one has ever found it. When a stranger comes to town asking questions and looking for the source of the ringing, it sets off a series of events that will eventually solve the mystery and place many people in jeopardy, including the young princess who lives in another world behind the doors of Aislinn House, where Lady Eglantyne lies dying. Beautifully evocative prose makes this an easy but very enjoyable read. The story and content feel geared towards a more general audience. I would recommend this to young teens with advanced reading sensibilities as well as adults with a taste for a bit of romance with your lyric prose.

A crumbling mansion with doors to another world, a small seaside town, and a mysterious bell that tolls every day at sunset where no bells are. With that to describe it, it's no wonder that "The Bell At Sealey Head" is a book by Patricia A. McKillip, spinner of hauntingly lyrical fantasies. And her newest book is no exception -- an exquisite magical mystery full of humour, secret doors, and a sorcerous power that is creeping into Sealey Head. A mysterious scholar -- Ridley Dow -- comes to Judd's run-down inn one day. He's come there to search for the magical bell that tolls every night. Elsewhere in Sealey Head, Judd's childhood friend (and love interest) Gwyneth is fending off a boring suitor when she isn't spinning magical tales about that same bell. And up at Aislinn House, Lady Eglantine is dying, and her housemaid Emma is opening magical doors into another world -- a parallel Aislinn house, where the princess Ysabo is caged in a realm of mindless rituals and fearful traditions. But things begin to change as Lady Eglantine's heir, Miranda Beryl, arrives with her friends and servants, and Ridley Dow's investigations take him into the magical other world. Someone strange and magical is lurking in the town, and old books and half-forgotten legends slowly unveil the sorcerer that cast a spell on the other Aislinn House... There are actually two magical worlds in "The Bell At Sealey Head" -- one is a coastal town of tree houses, briny ships and folkloric mysteries. The other a dreamlike tangle of crows, rituals and spellbound knights, stuck in traditions with no meaning. It's a credit to McKillip's writing ability that she can make both worlds come alive, in their different ways. McKillip wraps both worlds -- and all the subplots -- in her ornate rose-petal prose ("Little flecks of snow on the wind, and the last bitter black leaves falling in the lake, where the cold shield and the torn pennant lay..."). And she spins a complex, languidly-paced fantasy story that is far simpler than it seems, with people (good and bad alike) who are not what they seem, and magical passages that appear and vanish. And, of course, a bell ringing where no bells are. But this is also perhaps McKillip's most humorous book -- she weaves in some mildly comic love triangles, an eccentric woodwitch living in a hollow tree, as well as Daria Sproule's romanticized fantasies ("Not my pirates. Mine would be well-brought-up, sensitive types..."). And the cast is as varied and likable as the settings -- Judd and Gwyneth are likable, down-to-earth types, with Gwyneth as something of an authorial insert. On the other side, Ysabo is an ordinary young girl who is struggling to break, especially since she's being forced to marry a cold knight. The fact that she never figures out what his name is tells you a lot. It's the supporting characters who are more than they appear -- the seemingly chilly Miss Beryl, her creepy assistant, and the mild housemaid Emma. But it's Ridley

Sealey Head is no ordinary town. Every evening most of the townsfolk hear the tolling of a bell, no one knows why it rings or where it's at. It's been going on so long that many of the townspeople don't hear it anymore. Aislinn House on the edge of town harbors a mystery. It's a place where two worlds coexist, with few privy to its secret. On one side lies the quiet manor with its aging servants and ailing mistress, while on the other a princess and her subjects must perform strange rites. The links between two worlds are the princess, a maid and her mother who've been running into each other for years throughout the house. No one else in town knows their secret, but the arrival of a stranger in town sets off events that will change life in the house forever. I've been a fan of Patricia McKillip's for years. This is a wonderful book bordering on high fantasy. Its charming fairy tale like character entertained me and held my interest to the very end. I highly recommend it.