This novel captures well what happens when modernism clashes with tradition, religious differences explode into full scale war

Title: Children of Storm
Author: Cavan Barry
Publisher: Chalk Creations
Beviewer: Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

What this book will do to you is to transport you into a country full of mysteries, whose citizens are caught in a cocktail of war, witness a clash between modernism and traditional ways of life, as well as the mystical ways of seeing life by an ancient population.

Children of the Storm, a debut novel by journalist-turned novelist, Cavan Barry will introduce you to the ways of life of people in the imaginary ancient country of Southern Stream, whose past is very much present in their contemporary life, causing a lot of confusion and conflict among the citizens. On one hand there are those who believe that they are modernists who believe in their Earth God, while there are those who believe in the ways of their ancestors that lived a centuries ago. These are labelled Barbarians while the former constitute the ruling elite constituting the Spire Council. Under such circumstances, conflict is inevitable and there is loss of life.

This is in fact to simplify, otherwise the complex ways of the people of the imaginary country of Southern Stream that Barry has imagined and brought to life in a remarkable way on the 369 pages of this book. In reality though, the society that novelist paints here and the characters that are found in that society are quite complex. The terrain in which this country is found is tough. Storm after storm lash the territory, forcing the citizens to build underground houses just to protect themselves and hence the title Children of the Storm. Under such conditions, travelling from one place to another is a mission as there are no modern transport facilities, such as cars, planes or trains. There are also no proper roads. For moving from one place to another, for those who are wealthy, such as merchants and the ruling elite animals such as horses, bulls and even strange huge animals whose names are not known, are used as transport by the humans of Sothern Stream.

Basically the modernists in this story as represented by the ruling elites in the Spire Council, believe that they are civilised and need to modernise the traditionalists in this imaginary country, represented by a section of the population called the Barbarians. A war inevitably happens between the two groupings, and another section in this community, which is gifted with mysterious powers known as The Marshals are caught in between, used by both sides in battles for their own narrow agendas due to their power, which emanates from light sources, such as the sun.

It is in this society, whose generations are separated by a century that you will meet interesting characters that drive the narrative. Such as the orphan the, a pioneer Marshal, Twelve, whose parents died when he was young. He is one of the gifted Marshals who lived a century separating contemporary Southern Stream, and Callah, a mystic and talented translator, whose great grandfather, living a century before, happens to be the Marshal pioneer Twelve, just to name the two. There are more interesting characters whose lives in this story are interesting to explore though. In fact what makes this book an interesting read is what happens a century apart between the lives of these two characters with mystical powers, a century apart that drives the narrative in this novel.

Children of the Storm is a book that is well written, capturing well the tension and conflict that inevitably happens when modernism clashes with tradition, when religious differences in a society explode into a full scale war, when fantasy intersects with facts and when the past does not want to leave the present alone, when the future becomes uncertain because of the present, and when love between two people is threatened by war and opportunism and greed for power. Children of the Storm has all these elements and it is bound to drive your imagination a notch up. The characters have personalities, and that makes the book as real as possible to real life situations as we imagine them in the present.

Essentially, Children of the Storm tells the story of a young man, Twelve, living in a perpetually rainy town. He is poor; an orphan that spends his days as a runner, clearing the debris left in the wake of the pummelling storms. 

When a supernatural light explodes uncontrollably from his own hands, with deadly consequences, Twelve is labelled a murderer but is rescued from certain death by a stranger.

He embarks on a journey of discovery, leading him to both love and war. He has to make decisions that affect not only his life but the future too.

A century later, reclusive translator, Callah, receives Twelve’s leather-bound diary and finishes the quest that he had started. They are linked through time by their responsibility to uncover the true beginnings of the Spire Empire and the order of the Marshals.

About the author
Barry grew up in Johannesburg. After matriculating, Cavan spent a year travelling Europe. He studied journalism and literature at Rhodes University. Cavan started his working career as a journalist and then as a graphic designer. After learning much about media, copywriting and design, Cavan launched his own company in 2016 called Chalk Creation, which functions as a full-service digital agency.