A String in the Harp

I read this after reading Constance's 1976 Club review, remembering I had read it long ago as a child and not liked it much. It seemed like something I should adore (Wales, harps, magic) - I couldn't recall why I had disliked it.

Upon starting the reread, I immediately understood why. The first half of the book is incredibly depressing. Wales is cold and wet. The family in the story is sad and dysfunctional. Neither Peter nor Jen, the two main viewpoint characters, are very sympathetic, although I feel sorry for them and their plight. Their bereaved father is frankly in need of therapy and advice as to how to be a parent (hint: you don't do it by blaming your son for being unhappy at being torn away from all his friends and familiar surroundings immediately after his mother dies, nor by expecting your 15 year old daughter to step into the role of caregiver and confidante).

The “magic” consisted of Peter finding a harp tuning key from the 6th century bard Taliesin, and having visions of his life that also sometimes bled into the present day. However, it was all very static and lacking in interactivity or tension, like Peter was watching Taliesin TV. Even when things happened in the present, it did not affect anyone in any lasting way.

Peter's depression and anger eases through his magical experience, though it's not really clear why, unless it's just that it distracts him from obsessing over his negative feelings. And the family grows into a new kind of relationship, mostly through the children realizing they have to be the grownups and take care of their father. “I can't help thinking of you as my children,” he says near the end. Um yes ... maybe you should treat them that way and actually give them some care and attention?

The descriptions of Wales are sometimes interesting, although clearly drawn from the author's trips, which seem to have inspired her to take her travel journal and turn it into a novel.

Overall, a pale imitation of Susan Cooper's The Grey King, which won the Newbery the previous year, and includes many of the same elements, including a grieving bereaved man, a troubled father-son relationship, and a dramatic hunt for a sheep-killing canine. And harps, of course.