Galilee
A novel by Clive Barker

There are two great families resident in the United States, two families whose hatred for each other is only equaled by their mutual need. The Families Geary and Barbarossa: one has an enviable position in the spotlight of public acclaim and adoration; the other has strange powers that allow its members to have whatever they want, to be whomever they want to be. This is the story of how the precarious balance between the two was disturbed and how both families met an ending they never expected, and a beginning they never dreamt of.

Galilee is not a book that can be easily quantified, qualified, or categorized. I could say it was about family, about love, about hate, about the dangers of losing hope or of sinking into apathy, and yet that would be describing only a tiny fraction of the story. Like all good books, this is a tale of the human condition (to steal a phrase from so many reviewers and social commentators.) Barker's novel uses its mystical, historical and mythical setting to reveal the deepest emotions of human interaction. He strips off the facades and pleasant lies that each person tells herself and shows, through his rich cast of characters, how utterly pathetic and how totally redeemable each human being is.

Okay, perhaps pathetic is a bit harsh, yet haven't we all done something we wish we hadn't done? Hasn't each person been a coward at some point and not faced the world in all of its brutal reality? It is easy to be a coward, to hide from the people who love us, to hide from the people who might love us if we would only give them the chance. Yet, humanity and life is all about turning around; both of those noble ideas have inherent in them the possibility to choose to become a different, better person. Barker's Galilee illustrates with his usual stunning prose, imagery and craftsmanship that cowards can become heroes and that heroes can likewise become cowards. We all make mistakes, and yet the consequences of those mistakes do not have to last forever -- guilt is not never-ending, and joy can come at the end of a grief-stricken road.

Hope is the shining thread that runs throughout Galilee, and it is the combined skill of Clive Barker and our very human need to cling to that hope that makes the story -- the book -- so engrossing and unforgettable. A tale infinitely worth the reading.

-- Megan Linton

Galilee, published by HarperCollins, is currently available in paperback.

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