Weirdstone of Brisingamen, The by Alan Garner

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen is an entrancing and racey children's introduction to the world of layered legend and spiritual history in the landscape. The protagonists are relatively colourless and two dimensional but this is more than made up for by the array of forces and personalities they get to deal with. The malevolence of Selina Place speaking through the front door of Highmost Redmanhey at midnight in the second half of the book sent delicious shivers through me as I read it late at night,as a child of ten. Whilst the book is a bit of a mish-mash of images and sources, they provide a half-glimpsed corridor to the world of Celtic and Norse mythology which beckons the reader. A wonderful emotional journey, made gritty and damp with sand, musty mud and mist. The sequel, The Moon of Gomrath, is even better with the same young characters and young reader awakening to the possibilities of their immersion in the old magic of the ancient world.