The Moon of Gomrath

"You haven’t read The Moon of Gomrath ? Now I feel really old! OK…this is a children’s novel. You really need to start with the first in the series, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen . These are the first books Alan Garner wrote: Weirdstone came out in 1957, three years after Lord of the Rings was first published. The Moon of Gomrath came out in 1963. I hadn’t read Lord of the Rings when I came across these, so this was my introduction to elves and dwarves and magic. I think they are much better than Lord of the Rings— though I realise I’m probably alone in this. Certainly they are much shorter, so easier to read if you’re less than ten years old, which I was. I’m going to talk about both books. But The Moon of Gomrath is the book that is clearly eco; the core narrative arc centres on the elves who are dying as a result of industrial smog. It’s set in Alderley Edge in Cheshire in an undefined time—post-war rationing is still happening. Colin and Susan are children whose parents have gone away. They’ve been left with family or friends in a farming community and as is the way of children’s books, they go off on their own and discover an old man, a Merlin/Gandalf figure who recognises Susan’s silver bracelet—which she has inherited from a long family line—as a magical key. That’s probably all I need to tell you. The bad guys want to destroy this artifact and the good guys want it back. It’s a children-in-danger thriller. I read it when I was nine, but it’s quite frightening. There’s the Brollachan, a thing that turns into a pony with red eyes that is clearly deeply evil. I was a little girl who loved ponies, so that was super-scary. And there are elves, who basically despise people but can be prevailed upon to help if you ask right. Garner’s writing is truly awe-inspiring, totally anchored in Cheshire with a weaving of the old myths that brings them alive and offers rhythms of syllables and language that is still some of the best I’ve ever read."