'I salute him with the most heartfelt respect and admiration' PHILIP PULLMAN

'One of Britain's greatest writers' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Alan Garner's world is unbearably beautiful and dangerous' GUARDIAN

In this lyrical and revelatory memoir, Alan Garner, Booker shortlisted author of Treacle Walker, traces the line of his life: from a working-class childhood in the landscape of Cheshire during World War II, through a grammar school education and on to the University of Oxford, and then home to see if he could become what he most desired: a writer.

We see the serendipitous moments that drove his course, from coming-of-age in a period of great cultural change, to crossing paths with a famous mathematician while out long-distance running, to the fateful day he chanced across Blackden, the medieval hall, miraculously located next to the giant telescope at Jodrell Bank, that was to become his lasting home and the setting for Treacle Walker.

As Garner tells us, a lifetime of working with a pen produces the powsels and thrums of research, imagination and story. These oddments can be shaped into something more than its parts: a vivid tapestry of a creative life that will inspire any reader, and what a celebration it is.

Alan Garner's book Treacle Walker was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2022.

'Better than anyone else writing in English today' THE TIMES

'A unique genius' NEW STATESMAN

'One of the most distinct and profound writers we have' GUARDIAN

The new collection of essays, poetry and stories from the author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker

About the Author

Alan Garner is an English novelist best known for his fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. He was born in Cheshire in 1934 and his childhood was spent in Alderley Edge, where his family has lived for more than four hundred years. His fourth book, The Owl Service, won The Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal, and was made into a TV series. It has established itself as a contemporary classic and Garner as a writer of distinction. In 2022, his novel Treacle Walker was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He was awarded the OBE in 2001 for his services to literature.

Reviews

Praise for Alan Garner:

'His work has a symphonic quality unique in fiction' The Times

'Garner is his own man ... taut, powerful, credible' Penelope Lively, Independent

'A unique genius' New Statesman

'His is a consummate artist's vision that matches landscape and people and story'' Ralph Elliott, Labrys 7

'Alan Garner's themes are huge, urgent, compassionate, his voice distinguished by clarity, compression, precision, depth of feeling and sharpness of thought' Neil Philip, A Fine Anger: A Critical Introduction to the Work of Alan Garner

Book Information
ISBN 9780008725211
Author Alan Garner
Format Hardback
Page Count 176
Imprint Fourth Estate Ltd
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 360g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 141mm * 27mm