The Owl Service

View other editions of The Owl Service.
View books by Alan Garner.

Terrifying - Rated
I have been reading and re-reading this book on and off since I was a child and I am now a middle aged woman with three children of my own. Despite you thinking I might know better by now, I still find this book absolutely terrifying, albeit in a compulsively readable kind of way.

Garner's books have been consistently in print for years, which says a lot about their popularity. It does however seem to be a quiet kind of popularity and I don't think they are treated with the respect and adulation they deserve. His works are always beautifully written, very well researched (he deals in folklore and myth) and have a tense, haunting quality that will scare your socks off.

This story settles around the discovery of a set of plates which are decorated with ornate owl faces. The family who discover them soon find that owls are cropping up everywhere in their lives, and in their isolated country retreat things get very menacing, very quickly. Garner writes exceptionally well to create that creeping sense of intense isolation, fear and mounting dread that make this book work so well, and make the idea of being menaced by what is effectively a dinner service really work. Read this and then read all his other books. He also writes for adults as well, so you might want to check that out too.

Haunting - Rated
Some books go beyond being mere stories, tales with which to while away the hours, and become far more central within one's life. The Owl Service, which I first read at the age of about ten, is one such book for me. In my youth I was only concerned with the story of Alison, Gwyn and Roger and how the mythical past of a Welsh legend was reaching out to play itself out once again in the present day world, but with each successive reading, and there have been several, new meanings and layers of thought have revealed themselves. Around the age old tale of rivalries in love Garner has managed to weave comments on class (for example Gwyn's attempts to conform and lose his working-class Welsh roots, which he sees as a hinderance, are set against Roger's smug superiority, safe in his comfortable position as heir to the family firm); ambition (how far do we set our own parameters for what we can achieve, simply by settling for what is expected for us rather than holding out for what we really want) and the way the events of the real, everyday world run parallel with a much older world of imagination, myth and legend.

I probably discovered more about the possibilities of well-written fiction from this book than I did from any other. There are beautiful, haunting, descriptions such as Gwyn's nocturnal walk through the wood, spooked by phantom flames which he unconvincingly tries to reason away as marsh gas; there are moments of intense drama such as the attempt to escape from the valley during a torrential downpour and there are beautifully deft character descriptions: Gwyn's mother Nancy's fear and panic as she sees the past inevitably reaching out to the present for example, or the way Alison unknowingly plays the coquette. Above all perhaps it's the way Garner leaves the reader to work out the patterns and connections for themselves that impressed me. What you discover for yourself has a much greater dramatic impact than anything the author bluntly spoonfeeds into your mouth.

It's a clever, fabulous, wonderful book. Beautiful narrative drive, clever observations about themes which affect many children (being in a single-parent family for example and feeling that you don't quite belong, but being unsure whether that makes you special and clever or else something of a misfit) and haunting descriptive, subtle writing. It's glorious.

Series on TV - Rated
The Owl Service was made as a superb children`s serial on BBC in the seventies.This is by way of a reply to the person who proposed that it would make an excellent film - it would.

The Owl Service - Rated
I read this book as a child & have re-read it many times since and every time I get another layer from it.I don't thinks it's a childrens book at all, the story is far too complex & the refernces too obscure for any teenager. I feel it would make a good low budget film, if anyone is interested!

Beware the plates - Rated
One thing that could never be said about "Owl Service" is that it is like every other fantasy book. Because it's not. Alan Garner skillfully weaves Welsh mythology with a suspenseful, almost horrifying story about ancient power reaching to the modern day.

Something is scratching through Alison's ceiling, when she is sick with a stomachache. She and the cook's son Gwyn venture up into the loft, and there find a heap of strangely patterned plates. At first glance, the pattern appears to be an abstract floral; upon closer examination, Alison finds that when she traces around the pattern on pieces of paper, that they form tiny paper owls. Alison's brother Roger is inclined to be dismissive, but Gwyn isn't so sure.

For some reason, discovery sends Gwyn's mother into a near-crazed frenzy, and attracts the attention of the old handyman, Huw. Huw tells Gwyn a tragic old story -- one that is connected to Alison's strange behavior. When their mothers forbid them to speak to one another, Huw reveals his true nature. To save Alison from repeating the cycle, Gwyn learns that he must discover things about his own past...

Like the previous two children's books by Alan Garner, this is about modern-day children swept up in mythical forces, but while the creatures and people of "Weirdstone" and "Moon" were solid and easily-defined, here everything is misted and ghostly. So much so that the climax, while exquisitely written, is very hard to decipher, and which will leave readers feeling deeply unsatisfied. Just what is going on?

Garner takes a relatively obscure myth and spins up a strange tale around it. The writing matches that. Garner's is an exquisitely atmospheric style: the scenes of magic are otherworldly, as is any scene where Alison cuts out the owls, which becomes more sinister as the reason why becomes clear. There are a few scenes where the atmosphere is wholly human, such as the scene where Gwyn's mother leaves him walk in the rain without caring what happens to him.

Gwyn is our Charlie Brown hero -- he's the boy next door, an ordinary kid with an embittered mother. Alison's personality is a little less defined, since she spends the story being possessed by the magic. As a resulte don't get to see much of the real Alison. And it's not clear Roger is in the story, since he contributes nothing except a series of obnoxious comments and insinuations.

While flawed by some useless characters, "The Owl Service" is a beautifully written book. If only Garner had thought up a climax to match the exquisite buildup.