Lights Over Emeral Creek by Shelley Davidow NetGalley

This novel is made up of  many intricate parts including a simple and beautiful plot about a young girl named Lucy and her dad, Stephen, who live in Queensland, Australia. Lucy helps her dad run an Adventure Park. There are constantly visitors coming and going enjoying animals like the Lorikeet and the Kookaburra. Lucy is a paraplegic. Lucy's life becomes extraordinary when she begins to meet the supernatural in her own backyard. This is where Lights Over Emerald Creek by Shelley Davidow takes a wide turn from reality into fantasy but fantasy that has some truth to it.

At this point, I felt like my body had boarded a flying saucer. I had to tilt my thoughts to go on this journey with Lucy and her new friend from Scotland, Jonathan. Lucy becomes aware of something called Cymatics. I had never heard of this term. It is beyond my understanding. So, I am adding a Wikipedia meaning here which describes just what Lucy sees and hears. This experience seemed to me as wild and strange and beautiful in its own way as Australia. One of the characters does say that Australia is quite different from other places. The kangaroo is described as looking like two or three different animals.

Cymatics (from Greek: κῦμα "wave") is the study of visible sound and vibration, a subset of modal phenomena. Typically the surface of a plate, diaphragm, or membrane is vibrated, and regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible in a thin coating of particles, paste, or liquid.[1] Different patterns emerge in the excitatory medium depending on the geometry of the plate and the driving frequency.

At times I felt as though the author, Shelley Davidow hurried past some incidents. A python is mentioned twice. It's found living in the roof of Lucy's house. However, not much is told about the visitors reaction or how it's gotten down, etc. I would think of this as a big moment even in Australia for visitors to experience. We do learn about Lucy and her father's respect for animals and nature. The visitors are not to kill the pythons.

Other than  moments quickly passed over, I liked the novel. It is great to read an author who is willing to write about a character with a disability. The lights like the Norway Lights, the music in harmony with geometric figures make Lucy seem at one with nature. I took it to mean no matter what our disability we can find a place of entry in nature, and nature is magical. Plus, there is always a place for love. There is a love for every person.

I loved the fantasy part of the novel. Lucy and Jonathan meet a six hundred year old man with an unending beard named Nairn. The part I didn't get is how Stephen's girlfriend, all of a sudden ended up a ruler in another realm. She is an evil ruler who, at some point, Lucy will have to overthrow. This part about the girlfriend gave me pause. I think a new character would have done fine. It just stretched my imagination too much to take the girlfriend and make her a ruler of another world.

I also had never heard of the Rosslyn motet. Thought it had something to do with Classical music. So I asked my son. He said a motet had something to do with a chorus. He had never heard of the Rosslyn part.I looked it up and found the definition fascinating. I am anxious to read more about the Rosslyn motet.

I also wasn't sure whether Jonathan and Lucy secretly eloped before going on their journey or didn't elope. This is another part the author covered pretty swiftly. I also felt that Jonathan didn't seem real when he accepted Lucy's disability so quickly while Craig her other boyfriend goes into total shock and rejects her. I think Jonathan would have been more real if he had acted stunned in some way or became angry at Lucy for not telling him about her disability. I think there is room for shock and acceptance in a character. He could have still fallen in love with her, but she would have needed to explain why she wasn't totally forthright with him.

I really enjoyed learning the new terms and learning about the sights and sounds in Australia. I think the setting is a significant part of Lucy's life. Lights Over Emerald Creek is really magical. I haven't mentioned the unborn who were fascinating too. I wonder how Lucy will deal with her new role as a good ruler overcoming an evil ruler.

What didn't stretch my imagination was electrical forces making Lucy able to walk. She gets up out of her wheelchair while in this other world. Electrical forces are used as a way of treatment for those who want to walk again. I also loved Lucy's ability to fly. I think most of us wish for the ability to fly. What would it feel like?  Also loved Jonathan's care and love for Lucy. Their relationship is so beautiful. It's amazing how the author pulled together so many different ideas in her novel, Lights Over Emerald Creek. Throughout the novel I had the wonderful experience of never knowing what would happen next to Lucy.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYkYkn7k1ns
http://shelleydavidow.com/
http://www.mythomorph.com/wp/the-rosslyn-motet-rosslyn-chapels-music-code/

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