Collected Folk Tales

Alan Garner’s first book, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, is cited as a major influence by many of today’s greatest fantasy writers. Among his other acclaimed books are Elidor and The Owl Service, which won the Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal. Alan was born and still lives in Cheshire, and its local mythology plays a significant part in his work.

“The stories are written in a variety of voices, but the prose is always spare and hard, not a word wasted, not a word out of place… And if, by the time I have grandchildren, there are still public libraries, I trust that they will find this book in one, and take it to a quiet corner and read.” Neil Gaiman“…the great collections of British folk-tales, such as this one, should be treated in two ways: first, they should be bound in gold and brought out on special occasions as national treasures; and second, they should be printed in editions of hundreds of thousands, at the public expense, and given away free to every young teacher and every new parent.” Philip Pullman