thesinging

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Book Reviews and Synopses

The Singing

Allison Croggon

Croggon, Alison. The Singing. Penguin Books. Australia. 2009.

The Singing is a classic tale of romance and spirituality by the amazing author, Alison Croggon. Her beautiful words seem never ending in this poetic fiction story book. Some compare the beginning to the classic, Romeo and Juliet! The writing in the last parts on the story seem dull. It’s wonderful until you get to about chapter 7.

The Singing takes place in the 1800s, it starts out with Nevaeh, a 16 year-old musician who falls deeply in love with her fellow classmate Noah, a dashingly handsome young man who, at first, appears to be loud obnoxious and rude. Noah is actually a kind, loving, intelligent young man with a bright future and a loving family.

After spending years in the same class, Noah sees no reason not to propose. They’re absolutely perfect for each other; they both have an intense love for the arts and both are all around great people. But there was one catch, a huge catch, the final decision made by Nevaeh’s parents. The parents were not fond of Noah, and the times they saw him he was either goofing off with his friends or being rude to the music teacher. He is confident in their love and goes to ask Nevaeh’s parents. They shout at him and tell him that he is not wealthy enough and wouldn’t know how to support a potential family.

Noah tells Nevaeh the news and they come up with a plan to run away and get married. They would have the perfect life with no rules and no one telling them what they could or could not do! They plan to start a family and never go back to see their hometown. They leave at night with only, a sword for hunting and protection, a harp, and the clothes on their backs. The newly-weds travel, on foot, for two weeks with little food or water, they are searching for a good place to build a home and start a family. By now they know that their family has begun a search for them and that their plan might have to come to an end because of the severe lack of water, they are in what now seems to be the Mojave Desert. They have barely any time to rest because they know that the search party will soon catch up. If they caught Noah they would accuse him for kidnapping Nevaeh, then hang him.

One night, they are spotted. The search party is armed with swords; Noah won’t give up without a fight. He stands he ground but then, is terribly slashed, cuffed and taken away. Nevaeh, in tears, is escorted away and taken home. Days go by and Nevaeh hears news that Noah shall not be hanged but to be in prison for life, kept in a deep well. Nevaeh brews a plan to escape through her bedroom window after her parents go to bed. She would run to Noah and free him.

On a rainy night, she climbs down the vine next to her window with a rope and hastens to the well where Noah is kept. She throws the rope down and Noah starts to climb when suddenly a guard spots them and a huge rush of security men trample towards them. Just then Noah steps up and they rush off. With the crowd following close behind, they feel the only choice they have is to die; either get brutally killed or chose to take their own lives. The choice is obvious, they would jump off the Winter Butter bridge. They climb up; Tears streaming down their faces, they say, “I love you,” to each other and plummet off the bridge, hand in hand. This is a cheesy chick flick scene.

Alison Croggon seemed to pleasantly surprise people by pointing out that not every story has the perfect ending. People all across American are being touched by the beautiful, flowing words. All in all, the book was great, I recommend it if you’re into a kind of cheesy, romantic love story.

3 Stars out of 5

Contributed by M. Stood

February 14th, 2012