The Owl Service
Ratings11
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings11
Average rating3.9
Brilliant. Not at all clear that it's a children's book. An extraordinary re-creation of a myth in a way that explains how myths are created, and why they aren't just myths.
During a summer vacation in a secluded Welsh valley, three young people find themselves driven by the spirits of three mythical lovers to reenact an ancient tragedy.
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In a remote Welsh Valley three teenagers find themselves caught up in the mystery of a tragic ancient legend. Ages past Lleu had made for him out of flowers a wife, Bloeuwedd. Later she fell in love with Gronw Pebr and they murdered Lleu. Lleu was brought back to life by magic and he killed Gronw by throwing a spear with such force that it went through the rock behind which Gronw was sheltering. For her part in the murder, Blodeuwedd was turned into an owl.
The power of this myth plays itself out again and again in the valley, down through the ages. Now Alison becomes obsessed by the flowery owl pattern on an old dinner service hidden in the loft. Her stepbrother, Roger, and the housekeeper's son, Gwyn, become bound up in the events set in motion by the service's discovery and the legend begins again....
Garner's fiction here takes a more adult turn and there is a power and raw emotion to the writing. You feel the claustrophobia of the valley as it closes in on the protagonists. The ending is simple in its elegance, but fitting. I have always liked Alan Garner's books and this one is a haunting tale that stays with you as all good books should.
I'll do my best to review this book, but my thoughts about the book are a bit of a muddle; I wasn't terribly clear about what was going on in this story, in the past and in the present day.
Alison and her family come to stay in an old valley in Wales. There are lots of characters—Alison's mom, her step-father, her step-brother Roger, the caretaker of the property Huw, the cook Nancy, and Nancy's son Gwyn. Alison finds a set of dishes in the attic, and she finds herself, oddly, drawing owls. Nancy is very upset about the finding of the dishes, and that, too, seems odd.
Gwyn, Roger, and Alison learn about the old Welsh legend of Blodeuwedd, a woman created by a wizard out of flowers, who cheats on her husband for another man and is turned into an owl.
It's a rich story, full of teenage confusion and tension that is amplified with the layers of legend lived out in the valley, with the original story of Blodeuwedd, continued through Nancy's story, and brought into life in present day through Alison and Roger and Gwyn. There is class resentment between the affluent English and poor Welsh people, and that forms another strong theme in the book.
SPOILER ALERT
The ending was magnificent.
