Bradbury Ray 01

Reviews & Overviews by Rod Cameron

From the Dust Returned a family remembrance by Ray Bradbury

From the Dust Returned is Ray Bradbury's new novel. It is very much a ghost story, and concerns the Elliott family. As the world stop believing, the spirits of the world are gradually congregating in the Elliott House in October Country, Illinois. The matriarch is Nef, the mother of Nefertiti a mummy that is neither dead nor alive. Known as "A Thousand Times Great Grandmere", she watches over an extended family of ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night. There is cousin Cecy who is gifted with the magic of dream-sleep. She flies through the countryside and settles into anything's mind - a young girl ready for her first kiss, or the butcher to check if the meat is fresh. There is Angelina Marguerite who is living life backwards. There is winged Uncle Einar who flies through the night skies. And there are a host of bizarre creatures. But this is not a horror story.
From the Dust Returned is many things. It is a fairy tale, a prose poem, a series of inter-linked ghost stories, and it is also fun - there are a number of large and small pictures scattered throughout the book which enhance the text. Ray Bradbury has been producing quality work for over 50 years. In fact this work has been consolidated from a number of short stories written between 1945 and 1988. This is not a lengthy work, and the type is quite large. But this is an excellent story.

Publisher: Earthlight (Simon & Schuster)
Date: 2001
Pages: 204
Price: £16.99
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 07432075990
Reviewed by: Rod Cameron
Review date: January 2002