Arthur’s Return charts the outward egress and inward ingress of a young man on a mission to find himself and discover new things. He sets off almost without thinking about it and once he is on his way, he continues and each step makes for an increase in pace and drama. He packs in lots with relationships and interaction with others wherever the road takes him. He is also involved with what is going on around him. There is a sort of otherworldliness that impinges on day to day practicality from time to time in the form of people he sees or meets who say things in a semi visionary way, so that the reader is intrigued. Things begin to challenge and confront him until he is forced into a tete a tete with an opponent towards the end of this first instalment. It is intended that Arthur will be a focus for the sympathy, wishes and projections of the younger reader and the admiration of the older. He is our hero, and in the first instalment, he is called into action. Soon, it will be the case that he is moving towards full scale action but that is for later. All that is left for now, is wonderful descriptions of his surroundings, travel and adventure.
He begins in ‘the North’ of Great Britain and dialogues with friends and family there before making the decision to venture south under the protective umbrella of his step-gran’s affections. He is tempted abroad, then the adventure really starts and it seems like he voyages round half or Europe before returning to apparent tranquillity of a residency in a boatyard. Everything does not go to plan and soon Arthur is called into action.
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