DNF ( )

This book was a bit weird and it took me a while to get into it.

To start with it did not seem to make sense. But the further into the story I got, the more it started to come together and make sense.

Definitely worth a read, especially if you have an interest in myths and legends re-imagined. And stick with it, even if the beginning does seem rather slow. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2022/09/2022117-owl-service-alan-garner-reread.ht... ( )

Finished last night while (somewhat appropriately) waiting for Matthew to fall asleep after a scary thought at bedtime (he now recognises this as a separate thing to an actual nightmare, but still likes the reassurance of someone staying in the room until he's asleep).

Anyway, a gift from my mum after she also recently re-read this, it was a joy to read again after many many years (though the book itself is older than I am!) While clearly life has changed in that time the characters still read only a little dated, which is astonishing really. Though perhaps now no longer a teenager myself I found them frustratingly stubborn in places.

The landscapes and the Welshness felt as alive as ever. Still very very good. ( )

The book opens in an old house in Wales during a hot summer afternoon. Alison is in bed but can't rest because of a persistent scratching overhead. Not only persistent, but rhythmic. She asks Gwyn, the son of the housekeeper, to go into the loft and check. He finds a dinner service neatly stacked and nothing else.

The plates are not fine china, but glazed earthenware and heavy. Ironstone. They have an unusual pattern that at first glance is of flowers, but Alison sees them as owls. She traces the design onto paper to the show the effect. On asking his mother about the plates Gwyn is surprised at her angry response and demand that the plates not be disturbed. His mother has a history with the house as well as the valley, returning for this job only out of need for the money.

Meanwhile, Alison's stepbrother Roger rests from his daily swim on a rock by the river and has a strange feeling overcome him. The stone has a hole bored clean through it and is a part of local legend concerning a legendary warrior and a tragic love triangle.

I knew very little going into the book, but Garner quickly immersed me into the eerie mystery and cursed magic surrounding Alison, Gwyn and Roger. Garner doesn't explain much, and the tensions of the house can at first be explained as stemming from the recent unequal marriage of Alison and Roger's mother and father. There is also tension between Nancy the housekeeper and the hired man Huw Halfbacon as well as between the servants and the family. Tensions arise among all three teenagers as well. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, and Alison's mother's constant, unseen presence overshadows everything.

After you've finished reading the book, I highly recommend the 1969 TV series produced by the BBC. It is far from perfect but captures much of the mood and tension of the novel. All eight episodes are on YouTube. ( )