Willem of the Tafel
by Hans M Hirschi
The world we know is gone, destroyed by greed and ignorance. On a post-apocalyptic Earth, few have survived the Great War. Some have taken refuge deep inside a mountain. One of them, Willem, is exiled to the surface…
Alone and struggling to survive, Willem embarks on an epic journey, making a discovery that could once again alter the future of humanity.
Willem of the Tafel is a tale of survival, second chances, hope and undying love.
This is an intriguing book, a post-apocalyptic tale of troglodyte folk who appear to be the only survivors of nuclear Armageddon. The book is set hundreds of year into the future when race, countries and sexuality definitions have faded out and been replaced by urgent, desperate need for survival which takes all precedence.
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Itās a fully realised and believable world, strange and curious and we follow the protagonist on his journey out of threat, fear and confinement into his apparent punishment which reveals itself as new opportunity and potential that he is both unaware of and unprepared to deal with. As the story progresses he grows, changes and eventually works hisĀ Ā way back to his original world finding his own true love on the way. Ā Like all good love stories between strong men this one has its trouble & sacrifice but they are unusual as they are to do with honour, responsibility and doing the right thing, rather than of self-indulgence and infantile self-satisfaction, and all the more fun because of that.
This is a journey of self-discovery but also a love story, one without judgement or intolerance, but still with quirks and a reversal of our usual state of affairs around western ideas of race and gender. Itās refreshing also to read some dystopian story which is rooted in hope, love and positive change rather than murderous robots, murderous children pitted against each other or zombies eating your mom (yawn, yawn & tripple yawn). I put William of Tefel down with a smile, and enjoyed the clear simple prose the author used to bring this fully realised work to life. His careful ideas of place, time and the geographical accuracy of the places weave a firm bases for the emotional twists and turns to take place against and I felt emotionally connected to the characters.
Hirschi has created an interesting love story more like ancient myth than modern gay love story but with all the elements of a classical protagonistās journey wrapped around tender man on man love.
Out now
Ā£7.99 paperback
Ā£3.49 eBook
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You can also watch the trailer, as all books now must have trailers!
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