PENTECOST AND THE CHOSEN ONE

A sequel to the 1982 British Whitbread Award winner, The Song of Pentecost, concerning the trials and tribulations of the mice of Lickey Top. A new leader--the Pentecost--now leads the mice, following the tragic death of the old Pentecost just as the mice had reached their new home, as told in the first book. But the new leader broods, lacking challenge, until a prophecy by the prescient Old Hedgehog and Son leads him to the city and the gang of Gas Street mice, where he meets his double, the Chosen one. Betrayed, nearly killed, held captive by a trio of singing water rats, goaded by the strange seven-legged humbug, Cockle-snorkle bug, the Pentecost escapes, aided by Fox of Furrowfield, just as the Chosen one overthrows the evil Zero and takes his place as leader of the Gas Street Mob. Back home, content in new self-knowledge, Pentecost marches bravely into the future. There is no denying the vitality and imagination of the author, who "". . .began writing at age forty-four with no literary background or training."" However, the writing is so heavy with clichÉ and slang, and the impassioned speeches of the characters are so unlikely, that unless the reader falls under the book's charm, it can be exasperating rather than entertaining. But obviously the first book found an enthusiastic audience, who will not be disappointed by the second.