Synopsis
Winner of both the Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal, this is an all-time classic, combining mystery, adventure, history and a complex set of human relationships. Featuring a new introduction by Philip Pullman.
It all begins with the scratching in the ceiling. From the moment Alison discovers the dinner service in the attic, with its curious pattern of floral owls, a chain of events is set in progress that is to effect everybody's lives.
Relentlessly, Alison, her step-brother Roger and Welsh boy Gwyn are drawn into the replay of a tragic Welsh legend - a modern drama played out against a background of ancient jealousies. As the tension mounts, it becomes apparent that only by accepting and facing the situation can it be resolved.
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- ISBN: 9780007127894
- Number of pages: 240
- Weight: 160g
- Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 22 mm
Customer Reviews
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The Owl Service
I first read this book more than twenty five years ago and it is still etched in my mind as a disturbing and compelling read. Alan Garner wrote superb fant... READ MORE
Must read for every child and grown up.
I love so many things about this book and can understand why Garner's works appeal across age ranges - there is both complexity and simplicity to the weird... READ MORE
Wonderfully unsettling
Set in a bleak Welsh landscape, where ancient supernatural forces and legends are very much at home, there’s also more gritty realism and social comment th... READ MORE
A very strange tale of repeating traumas and magical happenings
This is a book I've been avoiding for a long time, because it pulls from the places and stories that a lot of my work does, and so I'd been keeping it an a... READ MORE
A dark complex story of myth and legend
When Alison finds the dinner service with a pattern that when copied and rearranged makes owls it sets in motion the replay of a Welsh legend.
Alison a... READ MORE
I love this book now just as much as when I was a teenager
I've always enjoyed myths and fantasy so when I first read this book back in the 1970s, I loved it. Then it slipped from my memory until I read the Mabino... READ MORE