The world of children’s books loves a ‘golden age’ and so do I. According to various experts there have been at least three, with most agreeing on the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century (from Alice to Pooh) as the first. Critics including Imogen Russell Williams and Amanda Craig have said we are living … Continue reading
The late 1960s saw a creative reawakening of the British folk tradition, in music, film and literature it was the earthy flip-side to the gloss of the swinging sixties pop culture. Children’s books proved a fertile ground for the old myths and legends and powerfully showed how they are never to deeply hidden from the … Continue reading
2015 has been a year of literary pilgrimages for me, beginning in late Spring with a visit to the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden. This small but superbly designed exhibition is built from the ephemera of his solitary working life, preserved and restaged with something approaching religious awe. The centrepiece is his entire shed, … Continue reading
There’ve been a spate of belated children’s book sequels lately – Alan Garner’s been back to Brisingamen and Judith Kerr’s followed up The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Now Pat Hutchins has brought out the sequel to one of my very favourite picture books, her perfect debut story Rosie’s Walk. But Where, oh Where, is … Continue reading
A is for Alderley Edge. Throughout his life Alan Garner has drawn on the landscape and legends of Alderley Edge, the place that has been home to his family for many, many generations. It has become more than just a dramatic backdrop though, its hills, rivers and most of all its stones have become the defining character of his writing, providing a link throughout his stories, and a connection with the deep history of the area. Continue reading
I avoided the books of Alan Garner as a child. A 1970s Armada Lion edition copy of Elidor sat on my shelf, always taunting me. It might have been the threat of Tolkien-esque high fantasy suggested by its cover that put me off, or maybe, just maybe the sense of dread that permeated its pages … Continue reading
Tom Fobble’s Day is the last part in a quartet of books inspired by Alan Garner’s working class family, who lived at Alderley Edge, a hill of Arthurian legend in Cheshire. It is crafted with such symmetry and beauty that you gasp, just as much as its hero as he takes his maiden journey down … Continue reading
