There were very few land burials in Moon Beach any more. It was considered old-fashioned and unhealthy, it was something that only happened to the poor. Instead the dead were buried in ocean cemeteries, twelve miles out. A special festival was held every year in their honour. Children loved it. Suddenly there were white chocolate bones everywhere and marzipan skulls and ice-cream coffins on a stick. There were costume parties too. You had to wear something blue because that was the colour people went when they were buried under the sea. You could paint your hands and face if you liked, or even dye your hair. That's what people did in Moon Beach. Turned blue every year. And then, sooner or later, they turned blue forever....

This is a fabulous book! I'd never read anything by Rupert Thomson before, I only picked it up in a charity shop because I was looking for books that could possibly be crowbared into the sci-fi/fantasy/speculative fiction category for a VBB on BookObsessed.com. But I'll definitely keep an eye out for his other books. This one is beautifully imagined, dark and kinda sexy.

To send to cats-eye this week, hopefully, if I can get out of my chair and make it to the post office.

Finally on its way to cats-eye. Hope you enjoy it!

Thank you for sharing this one Shnedwards! I'm so sorry for not journaling it sooner - it arrived safely over a week ago, I started it right away and forgot to log it in! I'm about 1/2 way through, and enjoying it very much...a very well written, slightly bizarre story with some brilliant characters. I haven't guessed where it's going yet, so that's a good sign, LOL! I'll post more as soon as I've finished - I've had to put it down for the time being and get some assignments done ;-) Thanks again!