Elidor

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Alan Garner OBE (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist who is best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. Garner’s presentation of a protagonist who cannot face up to this question, is his original and personal use of the traditional framework. I bought this lovely old penguin copy from a book sale just over 20 years ago, I had just discovered I was having a baby and the thought occurred to me that I'd have someone to read aloud to and share all these wonderful stories so this copy is really special for me. Obviously, Roland is clearly the protagonist, but the other siblings could have been rewritten as a single character for all the distinct personality they showed. Garner’s writing was a revelation to me and he became one of my early heroes as I worked my way through his other books.

If you read this book you will see how they manage to achieve all this from the backstreets of Manchester. Alan Garner's writing stems from myth and fantasy, but he invariably chooses the darker side of Faery. This is clear evidence that the land of Elidor and the figure of Malebron are externalisations of the type used in folktale and in High Fantasy, of aspects of Roland. Nicholas falls back on the idea of mass hallucination, David on coincidence, as explanations of their experience.There is very little to engage the reader in Elidor’s plight, and therefore very little sense of empathy. He is ambivalent, the representative of the light or good force in Elidor, yet demanding and manipulative of the children, uncaring of their individual needs. At this point he does achieve a high degree of self-awareness and accepts that the existence of this door is his responsibility, that he has a duty to unmake it. I'm sure Alan Garner's The Owl Service was one of the books which sparked my first forays into the genre when I was twelve or thirteen.

At any event, this is undoubtedly a book about the formation of the self-concept and about the changes and developments necessary in the individual if she or he is to cope adequately with relationships and events. After a humorous episode in which the children are either excuciatingly bored, or squirming with embarrassment, we become aware that they are in real danger. It is Roland alone, who remains constant in his awareness of their destiny, and their part in the struggle to hold back the terrible darkness by fulfilling the prophecy. The powers of evil seem to probe into the dreariness of Manchester, yet there is Elidor, whose very name seems to conjure up light and hope. In fact, the majority of the challenge to Roland was convincing his elder siblings to even participate in the events.

The burial of the treasure in the garden signifies Roland’s attempts to repress his still unresolved feelings of self-doubt and resentment.