posted on 05 Feb 2023

A Walk In Wolf Wood by Mary Stewart

You can’t get much more out of fashion as an author than Mary Stewart. She died in 2014 at the age of 98 and left behind a prolific output of novels for both adults and children. As an adult novelist she specialised in a sort of romantic thriller, often set in exotic sun-drenched locations, which sold by the bucket-load between the late 1950s and early 1980s. But she also wrote children’s novels and her so-called ‘Merlin series’ aimed at what would now be called a ‘young adult’ market are probably her best known and best appreciated.

A Walk in Wolf Wood is actually a fantasy aimed at a younger audience; confident readers of 10 or 11 would be quite at home with her unfussy, straight-forward storytelling and uncluttered prose style. There’s no great sophistication here and she doesn’t seem concerned to let a few loose-ends go untied but I can also see that for children who will graduate onto more demanding fantasy worlds, this isn’t a bad starting point.

The plot isn’t overly complex and its captured perfectly by the good people who run The Fantasy Literature website:

“John and Margaret Begbie are enjoying a holiday picnic when they are distracted by the sight of a distraught, weeping man rushing into the forest. Even odder, the man appears to be dressed in clothing from another era: a tunic and hose, cloak and knife, and a beautiful gold medallion. Compelled to follow him, the children creep into the forest till they reach a ramshackle cottage where they hear an extraordinary story from its inhabitant. The weeping man is Lord Mardian, and the gold medallion was a gift from his dearest friend Duke Otho. But thanks to an evil enchanter named Almeric, the friendship has been sundered and Mardian is cursed to roam as a wolf whenever the sun goes down.

The children have inadvertently time-shifted back into the 13th century, and Mardian sees in them the chance to see things set right. Lending them his gold medallion, he charges them with the task of delivering it into the hand of Duke Otho and explaining his story to his former friend. Then perhaps, the spell will be broken. But the children must first adjust to life in the distant past, and the wiles of the evil Almeric, who has disguised himself as Mardian and dwells within the court itself, whispering poison in the ears of Otho’s son Crispen.”

What Stewart does well, I think, is to balance out the different elements of the story in a really sure-footed and skilful way. There’s just enough jeopardy, just enough period detail, just enough romance, just enough righting of wrongs to create a mix that cooks up into a story that just about holds together.

And, of course, given the sort of age group this is aimed at, she contrives to get rid of John and Margaret’s parents without really getting rid of them – they will always be on hand come the end of the story to provide a reassuring resolution and a safe landing.

There is undoubtedly something rather old-fashioned about Mary Stewart and her writing but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The focus of A Walk in Wolf Wood is on the age-old struggle of good versus evil and that, after all, remains a timeless subject whatever the age of the book, the author or the audience.

I’m not sure that the book is currently in print but paper and hardback copies can be found on second hand sites and you might expect to pay well under £10 for one in good condition.

 

Terry Potter

February 2023