Torch (Puffin Books) - Softcover

Jill Paton Walsh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140349413 ISBN 13: 9780140349412

Publisher: Puffin Books, 1992

Synopsis

Their parents have decided; young Cal and Dio will marry. On the wedding day, they follow the village custom of going to visit the old man who lives in the marble fields, so that he can bless their marriage. But the old man has hurt himself and is dying, and his last words reveal his secret: he was the guardian of the last Olympic torch, and now Dio must carry on in his place. And so Cal and Dio, along with a few of their friends, set out on an extraordinary journey to discover the torch's true meaning and to find its home.

About this title

From School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up Paton Walsh takes on competition, as metaphorically represented by a torch held in secret by a Guardian living in a primitive future society on a Greek island. When Dio and his fiancee, Cal, seek the Guardian for their required marital instruction, they discover that he is near death . He passes on his responsibility for the torch to Dio as they spend the night in his deathwatch. This action so compromises them that they have no choice but to flee their village, and, joined by other young teens, they go on a quest to find the people who existed in a time called the Ago when games called the Olympiad were heldfor this is the last Olympic torch. The journey itself reveals the many faces of the games, as different societies find ways to use contests for selfish and often cruel ends. When one of the teens is kidnapped to run for profit, his companions search for him and meet a scholar who, in the heart of the book, reveals the secret of the Ago. As the book closes, the children have found a home for the torch and themselves. This is not an entirely successful book. Paton Walsh has concentrated so much on the ideas behind her plot that she has left strings dangling, such as the universal use of English by most of the characters, despite their geographic isolation. Also, most of the characters are poorly defined, and some are stereotypes. The lack of attention to detail can mar readers' concentration on the larger ideas of Paton Walsh's narrative, which are indeed challenging and original. If her book is not entirely successful, it is a rewarding challenge to readers who will not emerge with answers but rather an added ability to ask some important questionsnot a bad accomplishment for any novel. Christine Behrmann, New York Public Library

Copyright 1988 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

In a time and place that might be in the future but feasibly could have been in the past, Walsh writes of two teenagers, Cal and Dio, who are put in charge of a torch when its old guardian dies. Dio is possessed by the idea of finding the torch's true resting place, and so they begin a journey, accompanied by some friends from their village and taking on others along the way. Some of the people they meet allude to the idea that this torch has come from the fires of the last Olympics; the teenagers are, rightfully or wrongfully, taken as the true torchbearers and find themselves involved with corrupt Games. The torch, they find, has mysterious waysit only flares up when someone is doing something purely for the love of the act, not for glory. The conceptual landscape of Walsh's journey is powerfully drawn and full of provocative questions about the meaning of sports and sportsmanship. It is a gripping story, both as an adventure and as a timeless quest, with no foreseeable end or any easily inferred answers. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140349413
• ISBN 13: 9780140349412
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176