‘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.
'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
A collection of writings by the author of the 2022 Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker
'His work has a symphonic quality unique in fiction'
THE TIMES
Alan Garner is an exceptional lecturer and essayist. This rich collection of writings, spanning more than twenty years, explores an enviable range of scholarly interests: archaeology, myth, language, education, philosophy, the spiritual quest, mental health, literature, music and film.
The book also serves as a poetic autobiography of one of England's best-loved but least public writers. He hears himself declared dead at the age of six; he draws on the deep vein of a rural working-class childhood in a family of craftsmen who instilled the passion for excellence and for innovation and humour. The disciplines he learnt as a Classicist give a shape and clarity to that passion in this richly various book that would have fascinated his forebears, whose work and lives are also celebrated here.
This most unusual, most candid, most vivid picture of an English family and its home, its country's history, is also a devastating revelation of a writer's own life. Alan Garner's account of his mental illness will become a classic, and each strand of the book will be a source of fascination to anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of an Alan Garner story, as also to all who concern themselves with the craft of writing.
*ALMOST 1 MILLION SOLD!* Conversationally Speaking has become the most popular book in the world teaching conversation skills. Millions of people have used it to learn the secrets of effective communication. This revised edition provides more ways to improve your conversation skills by giving you strategies that work for starting conversations, asking questions that promote interaction, interesting people in what you have to say, listening so that others will be encouraged to talk, avoiding rejection-producing behavior, handling criticism constructively, and more.
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Chapter 12 uniquely summarizes in 25 pages the life's work of famed psychologist Dr. Albert Ellis on overcoming shyness and becoming more confident- and does it so well it received praise from Dr. Ellis himself!
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From one of our greatest living writers, comes a remarkable memoir of a forgotten England.
'The war went. We sang in the playground, 'Bikini lagoon, an atom bomb's boom, and two big explosions.' David's father came back from Burma and didn't eat rice. Twiggy taught by reciting "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and the thirteen times table. Twiggy was fat and short and he shouted, and his neck was as wide as his head. He was a bully, though he didn't take any notice of me.'
In Where Shall We Run To?, Alan Garner remembers his early childhood in the Cheshire village of Alderley Edge: life at the village school as 'a sissy and a mardy-arse'; pushing his friend Harold into a clump of nettles to test the truth of dock leaves; his father joining the army to guard the family against Hitler; the coming of the Yanks, with their comics and sweets and chewing gum. From one of our greatest living writers, it is a remarkable and evocative memoir of a vanished England.
From the author of the New York Times bestseller Adult Children of Alcoholics-a wonderful book that affirms and encourages ACoAs by developing your skills for living. Imagine how good you would feel if: ; You could stand up for yourself without losing your temper ; You could make a decision without second guessing yourself ; You didn't have that sense of worthlessness every time someone criticized you ; You could learn how to establish and defend boundaries In Lifeskills for Adult Children you can learn how to do these things and more. This book is designed specifically for Adult Children and teaches skills to make your complex adult life easier, while improving your sense of self-worth. Examples are provided to help clarify the lessons and exercises are given to help you practice your new skills.
Boneland is Alan Garner's continuation of the story thread which began in his first and enduringly popular fantasy children's novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. The Weirdstone was published in 1960 (it has never been out of print since), and The Moon of Gomrath followed, in 1963. This took the story further with the same two children, Colin and Susan. But Boneland is particularly fascinating because it takes the story into adulthood, with Colin again the main proponent. Boneland is read by the experienced actor Robert Powell, at the request of Alan Garner himself.
Part folklore, part adventure and part fantasy, Alan Garner's Elidor is a modern children's classic. When Roland opens a door in a derelict church, he unleashes the wonders of Elidor and the grave challenges that this troubled world presents. Drawing on Welsh, Irish and English mythology, the book chronicles the trials and hardships of a group of young teenagers as they attempt to fulfill a prophecy from another world, and fight a terrible evil.
After hearing scratches in the attic, Alison discovers a dinner service covered in an intriguing floral owl pattern, and a series of events are set in motion that will change her life forever. Alison, her step-brother Roger and Welsh boy Gwyn are forced into a cyclical replay of the tragic Welsh legend of Blodeuwedd, in which a woman is turned into an owl as a punishment for betraying her husband. The Owl Service is a fabulous, multi-layered book of mystery and suspense, but also a contemporary musing on love, class structure and power.
Alan Garner's exciting and atmospheric tale of magic and evil which began with The Weirdstone of Brisingamen continues with The Moon of Gomrath. Colin and Susan are not safe from the evil Morrigan and once more find themselves back in Fundindelve with the wizard Cadellin.
'The heart of the magic was sealed with Firefrost, the Weirdstone of Brisingamen … should Nastrond destroy the stone, then the magic will die away.' When Colin and Susan are pursued by eerie creatures across Alderley Edge, the Wizard - Cadellin Silverbrow - takes them to safety deep in the caves of Fundindelve. Here he watches over the enchanted sleep of one hundred and forty knights, awaiting the fated hour when they must rise and fight. But the Weirdstone of Brisingamen is lost and the forces of evil are closing in. The children realise that they are the key to its return, but how can they defeat the powerful magic of the Morrigan and her deadly brood? First published in 1960, four decades before Harry Potter, Alan Garner's novel of magic and wizards has endured and become a modern classic of children's literature.
