The Dreaming Jewels

When 8 year old Horty is finally at breaking point after years of abuse by his adoptive family, he runs away clutching only a broken old toy with strange jewel like eyes, from which he cant be parted without feeling ill. He falls in with a travelling carnival But the owner, sinister disgraced doctor Pierre "Maneater" Monetre's has sinister plans, dark horrific experiments to control and harness the alien powers of the dreaming jewels. What would happen if he knew exactly who and what Horty was?

Intense and haunting, this is rather like Ray Bradbury with a darker,harder edge. Interesting characters and an offbeat plot meant that I enjoyed this Sturgeon debut novel very much. Unusual and different.