Cuckoo’s Flight by Wendy Orr. Melbourne: Allen And Unwin, 2021

 If she had stayed to load the kiln as she should have, she’d never have seen the ship. Mama said the ship still would have been there, so everything had to happen the way it did. But that’s not true. Clio saw it, and the world changed.

When a raiders’ ship appears off the coast, the goddess demands an unthinkable price to save the town – and Clio’s grandmother creates a sacred statue to save Clio’s life.But Clio is torn between the demands of guarding the statue and caring for her beloved horses. Disabled in an accident, she must try to put aside her own grief at no longer being able to ride – and in the process, save a friend’s life and stop a war.

Here is the third of Wendy Orr’s ancient Crete novels. The first, Dragonfly Song,  was about Aissa, a girl who travels to Crete to become a bull dancer. The heroine of the second was Leira, a girl who fled her island, Thera, to escape a volcanic eruption that was bigger than Krakatoa’s. 

In this third volume, the heroine is Leira’s granddaughter, the daughter of a potter and her Trojan husband. Clio has an injury that makes it no longer possible for her to ride her beloved horse Grey Girl, but her father is building her a chariot. 

Clio sees raiders in the bay. There is time for the townsfolk to prepare to defend themselves, unlike in Dragonfly Song, but the Lady(priestess of the mother goddess) of the town, announces that they may have to choose a girl for sacrifice, so grandmother Leira prepares a perfect priestess figurine as an alternative, one which must be preserved until the final decision is made. She dies, but in the course of the novel we learn about all the good things she has done over the years, since we last met her as a girl in Swallow’s Dance. 

Clio is a worthy granddaughter to Leira. Despite all her problems, she is willing to help a refugee girl who is being badly treated by her brother - who also has reasons for being the way he is. 

Each of the books in this series has just a touch of fantasy, and it’s nice to see a throwaway mention of Troy, presumably the Trojan War. Clio’s father Hector is definitely one of Homer’s “horse taming Trojans.” It doesn’t matter, because the book is aimed at children, who have probably never heard of Homer, but some will look it up, others will simply find out about it later.  

There are no kings or princesses in this book, just a peaceful small town daily life with ordinary people who suddenly have to prepare for war. 

It’s also the most personal of the trilogy, as the author, too, has had an injury preventing her from riding. 

A nice ending to the series! 

I’m not sure when it will be available outside Australia, but it’s worth checking the usual sites to pre order. 

Although each novel stands alone, it’s also worth reading the first two. Why not do that if you have to wait for the new one?

Recommended, especially for children from about 9 to 12.