Booksy

An Ungodly Child by Rachel Green

Publisher: Discovered Authors
Imprint: DA Diamonds


“Does it matter if we don’t have an actual antichrist, if everyone thinks we do?” says Semangalof to his brother angels, thus setting in motion a plot to bring about the apocalypse.

An unusual annunciation follows.

“You, madam, are carrying the antichrist. The seven seals will be broken when he comes of age.”

“He’ll get a damn good hiding if it’s him that breaks them.” Ada laughed. “You’re having me on, aren’t you? My little baby the antichrist? I don’t think so.”

The baby in question is one Harold Waterman, the unlikely hero of this charming and engrossing tale of demonic goings-on in middle England. Touched by the Angel of Pestilence, Harold needs help if he’s not going to an early grave with an incurable disease, so he summons the demon Jasfoup. Thus begins a lifelong alliance which will have the reader questioning their preconceptions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Demons, vampires and imps must behave according to their nature, and angels according to theirs, but the results are not what you would necessarily expect.

Harold learns some surprising facts about his parentage, but takes it all in his stride, along with his relationship with his Uncle Frederick, which takes an unexpectedly ghostly turn halfway through the book.

And then there’s Gillian…

“Would you like tea?” he asked, “or would you prefer coffee?”

The woman sat at the kitchen table and stared at him almost insolently. “Blood.”

Imagine a cross between “The Life of Brian” and “Dogma”, but played out in an English village with quietly understated wit and intelligence, and you’ll have an inkling of the world this book inhabits. You’ll know the characters; recognise them instantly. This is “Cider with Rosie” or “Cranford” with an unexpected edge, a slight tweak at the edges of reality, a blurring of the demarcation between the seen and unseen.

It’s also very funny.