Mining Gee: Salt, Gool, and The Limping Man

In 2007, Maurice Gee returned to fantasy writing for young readers with the first of a trilogy of novels set in a fully realised, unnamed world. In 'Salt' (2007), 'Gool' (2008) and 'The Limping Man' (2010), he also returned to the themes that have run through his novels for young readers, be they fantasy or realist novels. These themes centre on the division in human nature between good and evil, and are explored in the 'Salt' trilogy through a series of conflicts between good, communally-minded country dwellers who live in harmony with nature, and wicked, power and hierarchy-driven city-based institutions that exploit the people and the land. In each novel, a different kind of evil (corporate, governmental or religious) is overcome by pairs of young protagonists - teenage boys and girls - who use their complementary abilities for the good of the community. As they do so, they come of age, in the terms required of young adult fiction, whether fantasy or realism. They learn to control their impulses and powers, they reflect on the ethical implications of their actions, they find love and they find their place in the world. More than merely repeating preoccupying concerns, however, the 'Salt' trilogy mines Gee's own oeuvre, calling up, or recalling, familiar figures of good and evil and drawing together the concerns of both fantasy and realist approaches to fiction for young readers.