Alan Garner " The Owl Service"

[anna_wing]

Found this in an op-shop on a recent visit to Melbourne (about which possibly more later). Read it again with pleasure but re-donated it because the premise was unbearably irritating. Though kudos to Roger for being a jerk with common sense.

That wretched cursed dinner service or whatever it really was? It's not owls or flowers, you idiots. It's crockery. Eat your lunch off it in peace, or put it up for Antiques Roadshow.

Comments

[heleninwales]

"The Owl Service" isn't my favourite Garner and I don't feel it's stood the test of time. It is now so dated. Gwyn's mother tells him not to speak Welsh so he can "get on". Now if he wants a good job, fluent Welsh would be a great asset.

Also (and I will never forgive Garner for this after I discovered it!), I learned some years ago that he'd moved the legend from its real location so he could use a different valley where his friends had a holiday home.

[anna_wing]

I didn't mind that so much since by now it counts as a historical novel.

[heleninwales]

Indeed, it does read like a historical novel, which is disconcerting when I remember buying it brand new when it first came out!

[sartorias]

Yes, yes.