A captivating novel by the author of the 2022 Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker

 Based on a true story, Strandloper tells the extraordinary tale of a nineteenth-century Englishman, William Buckley, who was convicted and transported to Australia. Refusing to accept his fate he escaped and lived among the Aborigines for thirty years.

 In this visionary novel, Alan Garner is as true to William the Cheshire bricklayer and William the Aboriginal spiritual leader, as William is true to his fate. The result is extraordinary.

Strandloper

A collection of writings by the author of the 2022 Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker

 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.

The Voice that Thunders

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR

 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.

Where Shall We Run To? - A Memoir

From the author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker

 The much-loved classic, finally in ebook.

 Winner of both the Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal, this is an all-time classic, combining mystery, adventure, history and a complex set of human relationships.

 It all begins with the scratching in the ceiling. From the moment Alison discovers the dinner service in the attic, with its curious pattern of floral owls, a chain of events is set in progress that is to effect everybody's lives.

 Relentlessly, Alison, her step-brother Roger and Welsh boy Gwyn are drawn into the replay of a tragic Welsh legend - a modern drama played out against a background of ancient jealousies. As the tension mounts, it becomes apparent that only by accepting and facing the situation can it be resolved.

The Owl Service

From the author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker and the Carnegie Medal and Guardian Children's Fiction Prize-winning classic, The Owl Service

 Roland, Helen, Nicholas and David, four Manchester children, are led into Elidor, a twilight world almost destroyed by fear and darkness.

 On a gloomy day in Manchester, Roland, Helen, Nicholas and David are lured into a ruined church, where the fabric of time and place is weak enough to allow them into the twilight world of Elidor. It is a place almost destroyed by fear and darkness, and the children are charged with guarding its Treasures while a way is sought to save the dying land.

 Then the evil forces find a path through to this world.

 This new edition of Alan Garner's classic includes a special "Why You'll Love This Book" introduction from bestselling author, Jonathan Stroud.

Elidor

From the author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker and the Carnegie Medal and Guardian Children's Fiction Prize-winning classic, The Owl Service

 The much-loved classic, finally in ebook.

 Enthralling sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen

 It is the Eve of Gomrath - the night of the year when the Old Magic is aroused. Had Colin and Susan known this, they would never have lighted a fire on the Beacon, thereby releasing the uncontrollable ferocity of the Wild Hunt. Soon they are inextricably caught up in the struggle between their friend, the Wizard Cadellin, and the evil Morrigan.

 The strength of their courage will determine whether or not they survive the awaiting ordeal.

 Book two in the Weirdstone trilogy.

The Moon of Gomrath

A major novel from one of the country's greatest writers, and the crowning achievement of an astonishing career, 'Boneland' is also the long-awaited conclusion to the story of Colin and Susan - a story that began over fifty years ago in 'The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'.

 'A woman was reading a book to a child on her knee.

 '"So the little boy went into the wood, and he met a witch. And the witch said, 'You come home with me and I'll give you a good dinner.' Now you wouldn't go home with a witch, would you?"

 'Colin stood. "Young man. Do not go into the witch's house. Do not. And whatever you do, do not go upstairs. You must not go upstairs. Do not go! You are not to go!"'

 Professor Colin Whisterfield spends his days at Jodrell Bank, using the radio telescope to look for his lost sister in the Pleiades. At night, he is on Alderley Edge, watching.

 At the same time, and in another time, the Watcher cuts the rock and blows bulls on the stone with his blood, and dances, to keep the sky above the earth and the stars flying.

 Colin can't remember; and he remembers too much. Before the age of thirteen is a blank. After that he recalls everything: where he was, what he was doing, in every minute of every hour of every day. Everything he has read and seen.

 And then, finally, a new force enters his life, a therapist who might be able to unlock what happened to him when he was twelve, what happened to his sister.

 But Colin will have to remember quickly, to find his sister. And the Watcher will have to find the Woman. Otherwise the skies will fall, and there will be only winter, wanderers and moon.

Boneland

From the author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker and the Carnegie Medal and Guardian Children's Fiction Prize-winning classic, The Owl Service

 The definitive collection of traditional British folk tales, selected and retold by the renowned Alan Garner.

 Following on from the fiftieth anniversary of Alan Garner's seminal fantasy classic, THE WEIRDSTONE OF BRISINGAMEN, here are collected all of Alan's folk tales, told with his unique storytelling skill and inimitably clear voice. Essential reading for young and old alike.

 Among the stories collected here are:. Kate Crackernuts. Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree. Yallery Brown

Collected Folk Tales

Ma mère m'a lu des comptines, et ma grand-mère m'a raconté des histoires folkloriques, mais quand j'étais enfant, je n'avais aucun intérêt à écrire.

... Je n'avais jamais accordé beaucoup de crédit au phénomène de "l'angoisse de la page blanche". J'étais plus enclin à penser qu'il s'agissait d'une "impatience de l'écrivain" et à suivre le dicton d'Arthur Koestler : "Imprégnez-vous et attendez".

Les parents possessifs vivent rarement assez longtemps pour voir les fruits de leur égoïsme.

Lorsque vous commencez, le monde de l'édition semble être une grande citadelle de talent cathédrale, résistant aux tentatives de vous laisser à l'intérieur. Ce n'est pas du tout comme ça. C'est peut-être plus difficile maintenant, et prendre plus de temps que lorsque j'ai commencé à écrire, mais il y a un grand entrepôt vide à la recherche d'un talent simple.

La chose que j'ai été élevée au-dessus du prix au-dessus de tout le reste est l'intellect. Il n'y a aucun problème que l'intellect ne puisse pas résoudre, mais il n'a jamais eu de pensée originale. L'originalité est le domaine de l'inconscient.

Mon attitude est que si quelqu'un de tout âge veut lire un livre, laissez-le, mais je pense qu'aucun enfant ne voudrait lire Boneland.

Frapper le gymnase pour libérer le stress n'est pas aussi efficace que de frapper les personnes qui provoquent le début du stress.

Le travail d'un conteur est de dire la vérité. Mais ce que nous ressentons le plus profondément ne peut pas être prononcé avec des mots seuls. À ce niveau, seules les images se connectent. Et ici, l'histoire devient symbole; Le symbole est le mythe. Et le mythe est la vérité.

Je vais acheter de la métaphore, mais la comparaison est un flic-out utilisé par les effrayants qui ne s'engageront à rien. Simile est pour les lâches.

Elle veut être des fleurs, mais vous faites ses hiboux. Vous ne devez pas vous plaindre, alors, si elle va chasser.

En ce qui concerne le monde, de 1979 à 1996, je n'ai publié aucun matériel original ; ce n'était tout simplement pas là.

Mon attitude est que si quelqu'un de tout âge veut lire un livre, laissez-le, mais je pense qu'aucun enfant ne voudrait lire «Boneland».

Je souhaite que les singes puissent Skype. Peut-être un jour.

Mon arrière-plan est profond et se déroulant en temps profond, et dans un espace étroit, les traditions orales remontant très longtemps, dont j'ai hérité par l'osmose.

J'ai appris que je ne dois jamais terminer un livre avec rien d'autre à faire.

Je ne suis pas censé être à moins de deux cents pieds d'une école ou d'un fromage Chuck E.

Mon sentiment est que l'écriture est, pour moi, une condition pathologique. Cela pourrait ressembler à une expérience mystique, et c'est peut-être une expérience mystique, mais j'ai appris à aller avec.

Tout ce que j'ai jamais écrit a été dans la même chaise, dans la même pièce.

Je ne pense pas que je me suis déjà fait peur auparavant en écrivant, mais il y avait des zones où il y avait de la terreur, comme si je regardais quelque part que je ne savais pas auparavant, et ça me faisait peur.

C'est là que je garde toutes mes affaires. Obtenez beaucoup de compliments à ce sujet. De plus, ce n'est pas un sac à main, il s'appelle une sacoche. Indiana Jones en porte un.

J'ai appris à ne jamais essayer de forcer les mots à venir.

Quand un singe grignote sur un weenis, c'est drôle dans n'importe quelle langue.

Ma langue principale, j'appellerais le nord-ouest de Mercian.

J'adore tellement la recherche que je fais énormément; Cela aide à reprendre le moment de commencer à écrire l'histoire.

Ses oeuvres

Ses derniers livres