When she is accosted in a barn by a young man named George who attempts to rape her, Jeannie Guthrie lets loose a whirlwind of telekinetic power which sends a pitchfork into George's flesh. Believing she has killed him, Jeannie flees her Scottish home and farm.
Wild Talent is another tour de force by Kernaghan.Although it is listed as young adult, this novel should not be passed over by any adult interested in the spiritual goings-on in late-1800 London and Paris.
Eileen Kernaghan's Wild Talent is a wonderfully engrossing read, combining a charming love story with a darkly dramatic tale of the supernatural. The prose is elegant and evocative, and the period detail of the late-Victorian era is depicted so vividly that the heroine's journey from the mists of Scotland to the streets of London, and from Bohemian Paris to the terrifying country of The Beyond, becomes a marvellous voyage of discovery for the reader too.
Desperate to ward off the unwanted advances of her cousin George, Jeannie Guthrie stabs him with a pitch fork. Believing she killed George, Jeannie flees Scotland and winds up in London, alone and frightened.
In 1888, sixteen years old Scottish farm hand Jeannie Guthrie fears her "gift". She believes she has good reason to do so because she thinks she used her talent to accidentally kill her wastrel cousin George who was pestering her constantly for a kiss since the dance.
While Wild Talent is very different from Eileen Kernaghan's 2000 novel, [[ASIN:1894345142 The Snow Queen]], there are two major themes that the two novels have in common. Both feature young girls striking out precipitously on their own into an unsafe world.
Desperate to ward off the unwanted advances of her cousin George, Jeannie Guthrie stabs him with a pitch fork. Believing she killed George, Jeannie flees Scotland and winds up in London, alone and frightened.
When she is accosted in a barn by a young man named George who attempts to rape her, Jeannie Guthrie lets loose a whirlwind of telekinetic power which sends a pitchfork into George 19s flesh. Believing she has killed him, Jeannie flees her Scottish home and farm.
This review appeared in The New York Review of Science Fiction in April, 2008.
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