posted on 03 Dec 2020

Norse Tales: Stories from across the rainbow bridge by Kevin Crossley-Holland, illustrated by Jeffrey Alan Love

In these dark months of the pandemic it’s been hard to find anything much to be delighted by. As we approach the dark winter depths what everyone needs is a pick-me-up and that’s just what came in the post to us this week courtesy of the wonderful Kevin Crossley-Holland.

What was in the package? A beautiful copy of Norse Tales: Stories from across the rainbow bridge which is the splendid companion volume to the 2017 publication, Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor and Loki.

There is simply no-one to match Crossley-Holland when it comes to translating the world of myth into a contemporary prose that is able to capture the imaginations of younger and older readers alike. These books are always marketed as books to be found in the ‘children’s’ or ’young adults’ sections but I think they are books for everyone regardless of age.

Just to underline that point, here at the Letterpress Project we gave Norse Myths an enthusiastic review and, now that the author and illustrator have been reunited, the second instalment was certain to be another dose of visceral excitement and aesthetic pleasure. And so it proved to be. I sat down with it and gobbled it up in a sitting.

What you’ll find collected here are five tales that demonstrate the richness of the Norse folk tradition and the range of moods and emotions they can scope – from the delightfully blood-curdling to the touchingly sensitive and all stops along the way. These are tales that illustrate the way the boundary between different realms of being can be dissolved – gods, trolls, ghosts and mere mortals find themselves coming together in Middle Earth where they play out some extraordinary stories of life, death, greed and loss.

I’m clearly not going to tell you the content of the five stories we have served up to us here because you’re going to want to come to them fresh and open to the delights you’ll find by reading them yourself.  But what I do want to say something about is the quality of the writing, the prose poetry and the lightness and certainty  of touch that Crossley-Holland brings to all his work. It’s a master-class of storytelling that will keep you riveted to the page whatever your age.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, we also have the extraordinary power of Jeffrey Alan Love’s illustrations to marvel at. This is form and subject perfectly matched. Black silhouettes march across single and double page spreads and all is occasionally highlighted by blocks or slashes of muted colour.

This is a perfect example of why the illustrated book is much more than the sum of its parts.

But I want to leave the last words to the author himself who gives us this insight into why we should still think of the myths as having contemporary relevance – maybe in these dire times more than ever:

“These Norse myths assert the great importance of family, and of equal partnership between a man and a woman. They show the value of having true friends; the need to work hard; having a dream, having ambition; having a sense of humour and being able to laugh at yourself; facing up to challenges; and being brave when its not easy to be. All this, and an awareness of the sheer beauty of the world around us, and of being alive…”

I can’t add anything to that.

Get along to your local independent bookshop and buy yourself a copy of the book and maybe add its companion volume, Norse Myths, to the mix – it’s money well spent.

 

Terry Potter

December 2020