THE JEWEL OF LIFE

Old Crowe the apothecary/alchemist is fortunate in his new apprentice: young Duffy may be an unprepossessing orphan, but he displays both a lively curiosity and an unsuspected talent for magic. Within days, Duffy travels to other worlds, brings back a precious cockatrice feather, and—with Crowe explaining how alchemical substances should be interpreted not just in physical terms but also in a psychological and spiritual sense—creates the Philosopher's Stone itself. While townspeople, frightened by an eclipse, burn down Crowe's shop, Duffy reclaims the Stone after a magic battle with a dragon and uses it to bring the old man back to life. Since this spare, fluidly written story is symbol-driven, plot and characters are sculpted in bas-relief and are predictable in both appearance and behavior. Still, the author knows her herbal and alchemical lore and creates vivid, scary monsters. (Fiction. 11-14)