When Mostyn Price’s father disappears, his grandfather – Taid –
gives him a young pigeon to look after to take his mind off things.
Mostyn calls his new pet Mister Lloyd and showers him with
affection. But this isn’t just any pigeon: it is a Flying Tippler,
one of the top racing breeds. Taid has a whole loft full of them –
a beautiful pigeon loft that he calls Graceland, because apparently
Elvis Presley was also a pigeon fancier (more of him later…). There
are Mister Lloyd’s parents, Earl and Lady Grey, and his peers:
Greysta the troublemaker, Idwal Slab the slow developer, and
handsome Grey’s Anatomy, who vies with shy Mister Lloyd for the
attentions of ‘the beauteous hen’, Anne of Grey Gables. Meanwhile,
up at the house, Mostyn’s mam – ‘Bangor’s version of Penelope Cruz’
– is being quietly courted by Maldwyn Jones. Formerly ‘doing this
and that’ in Dubai, Maldwyn is now doing this and that in Bangor,
from transporting racing pigeons to fixing taps. He has a lovely
sense of humour, a heart of gold, and a mustard yellow MGF
two-seater affectionately known as The Mid-Life Crisis. Mostyn
isn’t so keen on the idea of his mam having a boyfriend. Nor is he
sure he wants a girlfriend himself, but he likes Lowri, the feisty
girl who’s in his gang at school. She leaves home every morning all
neat and tidy to please her mam, but by the time she gets to school
she’s all skinny jeans and fashionably mussed hair and black
eyeliner. Lowri’s a rebel. Mostyn is quiet and self-effacing, and
being given a hard time by school bully Lynton. And none harder
than when… … Mister Lloyd goes missing. Maldwyn has transported the
local clubs’ pigeons to Belgium and released them for an
international race. It is a first for Mister Lloyd. But when the
other pigeons arrive home, he is not among them. Somewhere between
Belgium and Bangor, Mister Lloyd has disappeared. Mostyn is bereft,
and determined to find his feathered friend, come what may. It is a
quest that brings him head-to-head with Lynton, causes conflict
with his mam, and finds him – and Mister Lloyd – roaming the
streets of London and, of course, the environs of Trafalgar Square.
They are both watched over by mystery helpers: the kindly voice
that tells Mister Lloyd’s side of the story, and Elvis of the
Misterlloydfanclub who turns up on Report Strays Online. Who is he?
Taid? Maldwyn? Dad? The search for his real identity is as keen and
nail-biting as the quest to find Mister Lloyd. In The Search for
Mister Lloyd, Griff Rowlands has written a tale that draws you in
from the start and never lets you go. It is touching, quirky, funny
and sad, and has a cast of characters – pigeons included – who I
suspect might be hard to forget.
*Suzy Ceulan Hughes @ www.gwales.com*
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