Inspiring Young Readers
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner
Checking back on the publishing history of Alan Garner’s first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, I now realise that I must have first read this when it was reissued in 1974. By this point the book was 14 years old and Garner’s reputation was already solid amongst devotees of children’s literature and fantasy novelists.
As I have recorded elsewhere, I’m not a fan of fantasy writing and so, even all those years ago, I was reluctant to have this one foisted on me – but I’m not really very good at saying no to my friends. As it turned out, I adored the book and swiftly became one of Garner’s fans – primarily because it seemed to me that he was more a re-worker of traditional myth than a fantasy writer.
What strikes you immediately with Garner is that his books are set in the real and identifiable landscape of Cheshire – Alderley Edge has the presence of a major character in much of Garner’s work – rather than the imagined environments of Tolkien or Lewis. People in their natural landscapes and the legends and myths they have developed over time are the raw materials Garner takes and shapes into thrilling narratives.
Reading it again now after so many years I’m once again in awe at his ability to tell a story at breakneck speed and with real tension and jeopardy. This is a helter-skelter ride that has no real interest in explaining itself – the magic is just there as an integral part of the story and you either go with it or you have to put the book down. I am also struck by the way this book would now be seen as a pretty old-fashioned children’s book – social realism isn’t on the agenda and characters aren’t developed but that doesn’t mean they are shallow or two dimensional because the depth comes from the way in which the quest at the heart of the book is tackled. The nature of good and evil, the quality of heroism, the steadfastness of friendship are all essential parts of the world he creates.
I love the fact that we know virtually nothing about the two children – Colin and Susan - at the centre of the story. We aren’t given detailed back-story or reasons why they have come to live with the craggy and ultimately noble Gowther and his wife on their farm and we read with real wonder as they are allowed to immediately start roaming the countryside until late at night. The fact that they are almost immediately drawn into a world of magic is something they simply take in their stride and we too, as readers, just go with it.
A quest to take a vital magic stone to a wizard in order to save the world from gathering evil seems way too much like a direct crib from Tolkien when it is set down in this bald fashion. Although there are obvious echoes of the Hobbit journey to the Crack of Doom in the story of the Weirdstone, it is ultimately different because it takes place in a real landscape – the device of taking us and the book’s protagonists on a terrifying journey, leading us through a recognisable environment, allows the reality of the setting to sharpen the potential fear. The other factor that gives an additional frisson to the story is that the threat to Colin and Susan doesn’t only come from the witches, warlocks and their wicked mutant hoards but from the ordinary human community which, we discover, has been infiltrated by agents of evil. Suddenly you don’t know who to trust – your neighbour of many years may suddenly turn out to be your biggest threat.
And, just as quickly as the story starts, it finishes. But don't despair - a sequel follows and ultimately there will be a final episode to make it into a trilogy. I will certainly go on to read the full series but I probably won’t do it one after the other because if you spend too much time in Garner’s world you might just not resurface.
Terry Potter
May 2016