There are three intangibles in David Almond’s 2014 YA novel. A lyrical story, it retells the myth of Orpheus as if it were a Northumbrian folk tale. It is about a group of smart A-level students navigating the transition to adulthood while trying to square their drive for sex with their hunger for love.
Most intangible is Orpheus himself, an unknowable figure who drifts in and out of the teenagers’ lives like the tide. Discovered on Bamburgh beach – and just as quickly lost again – this traveller is as mesmerising as he is enigmatic.
