Below I have given you the opening 250 words of Chapter One of The Elephant and The Nun. As it is a draft I am even more open to suggestions and your opinion on anything within it, it would be fantastic to know what you think of it!
The Elephant and The Nun
Hal’s Beginning
Before a time of England or of Roman Legions, before an Egyptian sailed to Greece and this world was made as is, there was a land. Though not altogether different from our own – for man is always and shall always be man – there were certain powers at work which have since been put to rest. From the coastal capital Penance rolls the road to the world; tradesmen traipsing by village and mound, through valley and forest, against wolf and thief, for commerce and society, and to Arkrah. Two miles off this Eastern road a farmhouse sets itself amongst the fields.
Three men, husbands and brothers, and two women, wives and sisters, at work under the sun. Each day fetching and hauling, checking and fixing. One woman grows larger as the weeks go by, soon resting inside with the house growing around her. In the 17th year of King Gidarn of Penance, before the end of Summer and while the flags fly high across the land, the night draws in.
A fresh cry comes out from an upper window, its wooden slats open for the welcome breeze among a stifling evening heat. A baby is born, and a shadow creeps to and smooths itself by the corner of the house. The new father comes to the window smiling, looking onto the land he has a share in and now the land his son has a share in. He turns back to his wife and newborn, and walks away from the window.
SmallSmilingPrincess 