FootNotes

FootNotes

Blurb

In a psychedelic world of caves and rainforests, two boys run away on an adventure. But when one of them eats a forbidden fruit and gets swallowed by a mysterious tree, then spat back out possessed by a spirit, things take a darker turn. The boys scurry back to their home village, tails between their legs. Fearing repercussions that could destroy the world, yet unwilling to take the drastic step of killing a child, the villagers decide instead to pack the boys off to the nearest city, with a mentor to guide them - out of sight, out of mind.

As the years pass and the boys mature into adulthood, they both achieve material and personal success. But have they done enough to avoid the destruction of the Earth itself or have their actions triggered something that is just biding its time?

In an oral history passed down from narrator to narrator over hundreds of thousands of years, we learn stories of caves and maps, queens, crocodiles and cats, goddesses and gods, musicians and divers, all interwoven into one complex knot that holds the very existence of our planet at its heart.

Synopsis

Two seven-year-old boys, one of them the narrator, run away from their village on an adventure in the mystical, magical lands of their rainforest home. They encounter a strange tree, and the narrator’s friend - known throughout almost the entire book only as ’my friend’ - eats its fruit. He is swallowed up by the tree and remains there for several hours, after which he is spat out possessed by the spirit of Amelia Papu De Lintacious, the last of the Lusagormanian people. Her spirit is to remain with him for the rest of his life as a guide and protector.

The boys return to their village, frightened by what has happened. The adults and elders of the village are also frightened, because this seems like the fulfilment of a prophesy that will result in the destruction of the world.

They are supposed to kill the ’man’ who eats the fruit, but they are reluctant to kill a seven-year-old child. Instead they sentence both friends to banishment to the nearest city at the age of ten, accompanied by the village’s pastor, known only as Preacher Man.

After an eventful thirty-day trip to the city, the boys get their feet under the table and get settled in the city. They are given money and a considerable amount of freedom by Preacher Man, who is influential in the community. They do well at school and eventually progress to university, where the friend studies literature and the narrator media studies.

Despite becoming materially and socially successful, with a burgeoning career as a performance poet, the friend spirals into heavy drinking and drug use, which worries the narrator.

This takes a turn for the worse after the breakup of his relationship with ’Lady Camberly’, who seemed perfect for him. The friend, working for a shady underground publishing house, publishes a book that turns out to be a massive hit, catapulting him into fame and fortune but also earning him something of a reputation as a dissident or ’immoral’ character. At the same time he falls into a relationship with a famous film star, Cap - but she is already engaged to someone else against her will, and the two are forced into secrecy.

The narrator, looking for a foot in the door to a media career, strikes a deal with his friend to be the one to ’break the news’ of their scandalous relationship live on air, earning his own fame with this move. He is also in a relationsh