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On The Table Read Magazine, “the best book magazine in the UK“, with demons from the Underworld gathering in Hereford, M. E. Holley’s Jonah and the Last Great Dragon follows Jonah and Erin when they meet the Last Great Dragon of Wales.
M. E. Holley’s Legend Of The Heart Eaters, the first book in her middle grade book series, Jonah And The Last Great Dragon, is bursting with full-on adventure as the Red Dragon of Welsh legends leads the efforts to save the modern world.
On his first morning at his aunt’s farm, Jonah explores the valley as a strange, hooded figure watches from the woods. When the watcher’s savage dog chases Jonah, he is helped by Gwen Morgan and her daughter, Erin, and finds they both have their thirteenth birthdays before the new school year begins.
Later, as Erin is taking Jonah to see Cascob church, which has an ancient spell on the wall, and grotesque little creatures on the roof that frighten the children. When they find smoke coming from a chasm in the woods they meet the enigmatic Mike Golding, who says he has come to investigate the fire. Jonah confesses that he thinks the creature that chased him was actually a wolf.
On the way back to Erin’s home, the children are attacked by wolves and Jonah is badly bitten. He has terrible visions, which include a whispering, hooded figure. Mike chases the wolves away with a flaming branch and carries Jonah back to Erin’s farm. Although the two farms still have electricity, strangely the telephone system, radio and television are not working.
At a village meeting in the churchyard next morning, the little demons attack. The children and the vicar use the church’s spell to chase the creatures away. They discover that Mike is Saint Michael the Dragonslayer. The churches’ link has weakened and consequently the Last Great Dragon of Wales wakes up. When Jonah shouts at the dragon, they find that they can understand each other. Saint Michael joyfully tells Jonah that he must be descended from a line of heroic warriors who had the ability to understand and control dragons.
When the news comes that the demons are leaving the Underworld and gathering in Hereford, and with modern weapons useless against the Night Creatures, the quickest way to get rid of them is to use dragon-fire. Supported by the local regiment, the SAS, the children fly to Hereford with the dragon.
And when the world is safe once more, Jonah asks the dragon to stay in the Cascob valley, on one condition. They are friends, so the dragon must never call him ‘Master’ again.
Inspired to write the story following a visit to Cascob church, M.E. Holley delivers a descriptive and suspenseful page-turner, for children and young adults, as well as adult readers.
Soon after my husband and I moved to Herefordshire, I read, in one of Phil Rickman’s novels, that there was a spell on the wall of a church in the Radnor Forest. Intrigued, we decided to visit it. The tiny hamlet of Cascob is nestled into a narrow valley on the edge of the Radnor Forest. It has one of five churches dedicated to the Archangel Michael, the Dragon Slayer, which surround the area where the last Great Dragon of Wales is said to have been imprisoned by the archangel. If the churches weaken, the legend goes, the Dragon will wake.
When we went to visit the church, we found a notice saying that it opened for services only once a month on a Sunday afternoon. Looking around at the valley, where there are very few houses, I joked that the dragon would wake up.
My husband said, ‘Write the story.’ So I did, and the books about Jonah and the Last Great Dragon were the result. I wrote the first two books, Legend of the Heart Eaters and Menace of the Night Creatures in a few short months. They were both published by an independent publisher in 2012 and 2014. Now the third book, Revenge of the Dark Lord, will complete the trilogy.
I had always wanted to write fiction since leaving Aberdeen University. My interest in history, my teaching experience and experience of working with politicians in London, and my love of exploring the Welsh borderlands where I now live, all – I hope – bring the ring of authenticity to my work.
I am now just completing my first novel for adults.
-M. E. Holley
Kindle: https://amzn.to/3OJCk25
Paperback: https://amzn.to/3SG50do
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