St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers, ed. David Pringle, London, St. James Press, 1996, ISBN 1-55862-205-5, (pp. 218-220). The origins of this particular novel are from a Welsh folktale, whose title can be translated as "Elidor and the Golden Ball". In it, Gerald of Wales, "Giraldus Cambrensis", described his 1188 journey across the country in a medieval account, "Itinerarium Cambriae", or "The Itinerary Through Wales". In the account, Elidor was a priest who, as a boy, was led by dwarfs to a castle of gold. This castle was in a land which, although beautiful, was not illuminated by the full light of the sun. Alan Garner develops this idea, making the golden walls of Gorias contrast with the dull sky in Elidor. Stars Mossie Cassidy as Roland, Raffey Cassidy as Helen, William Rush as Nicholas, Stephen Hoyle as David, Toby Hadoke as Malebron and Fiona Clarke as Mrs Watson. Having said this, much of the novel has humour and a sense of fun. Many years later, a reader inevitably has a different perspective rereading a favourite novel. It is a tribute to Alan Garner's writing that he can switch from powerful fantastical scenes to humdrum family life in a suburban home of yesteryear - and carry the reader with him. And this is not the only myth that has a resonance in the story – there is a less commonly known Welsh folk-tale about a priest called Elidor (or Elidorus) who, as a child, was also granted entrance to a mysterious world. And the names of the four castles in Elidor appear in some of the oldest Irish mythology. Garner takes these mythic stories and gives them a concrete reality, one that spills into the actual concrete reality of his characters, the Watson children, who have to cope with moving house, getting to school and the suspicions of their parents while also guarding the treasures of Elidor and dealing with the threats they pose to everyone’s safety.

I first read this when I was 7 years old. A reread today 40 years later to my youngest who had forgotten hearing this some time ago when she was small. The darkness grew,' said Malebron. 'It is always there. We did not watch, and the power of night closed on Elidor. We had so much of ease that we did not mark the signs - a crop blighted, a spring failed, a man killed. Then it was too late - war, and siege, and betrayal, and the dying of the light.'[...] 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. The tension is cranked up unrelentingly as, pursued by dark forces, they, I enjoyed the story, it's full of imagination and no small amount of dark threat. Celyn enjoyed it too, though the passage of 50 years, combined with her own limited experience of the world, did require me to explain a number of things.Little do the children know that chance didn't bring them there, but a prophecy hundreds of years old. One by one they realise that the church isn't all it seems, as the fabric of time and space opens and they are propelled into the dying and strange world of Elidor...

Catalogue Titles Authors Readers Unabridged Fiction Classic Fiction Modern Classics Contemporary FictionElidor and the Golden Ball [1] from Richard Colt Hoare (1806), The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin Through Wales, a translation of Giraldus Cambrensis (1191), Itinerarium Cambriae He is helped by his brothers, Nicholas and David, and sister, Helen, as they travel between the devastated city where they live with their parents and the shattered otherworld. They face trials of strength and ingenuity, threatened by forces of darkness and fear – quite apart from the anger of the demolition company trying to pull down the church where the secret entrance is. What’s more, although they pass between Elidor and Manchester, the dangers and mysteries travel with them. Static electricity is threatening their own neighbourhood almost as much as the song of Findhorn – it’s not just Elidor they have to try to save, it’s their own world too. I miss my old edition of Elidor but it seems to have vanished along with its wonderful illustrations. Elidor, that strange halfway-house book between Garner's more conventional children's fantasies and his truly powerful, timeshifting work in Owl Service and Red Shift.

In spite of the unicorn on the front cover, which turns out to be a latecomer to the story, this turns out to be an intense and creepy fantasy story where most of the action actually takes place in the real world. This would be a great book to get confident readers interested in fantasy. 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. Recommended for children and adults who enjoy some suspense and magic, but are not prone to nightmares. This is no horror, but it does build on childhood nightmares. GENRES Fiction ClassicFiction ModernClassics ContemporaryFiction Non-Fiction The Arts Biographies History Music Philosophy Religion Other Drama Shakespeare OtherDrama Other Poetry JuniorClassics Young Adult Classics Collections&Sets UnabridgedUnfortunately, Roland's big mistake was in visualizing his own front door when he sought an opening into the Mound of Vandwy. The treasures act as a beacon for the forces of evil from Elidor and they soon come come round peeping through the letter box. ran from pool to pool of the street lamps and sometimes they glimpsed a shadow, and sometimes there was a tall silhouette; and there was always too much darkness. When they turned the corner the white fluorescence of the railway station at the end of the road was like a sanctuary. They drove themselves toward its glass and concrete, as if ...danger of spear-edge and shield-rim would be powerless in the neon glare." Late in the book a dying unicorn sings a 'swan song' and by this act brings a restitution of light to Elidor. According to the medieval legend, only the calming presence of a virgin can tame the wild and ferocious nature of the unicorn and only thus may it be killed. [8] Recognition [ edit ] Round, and round, his voice went, and through it came a noise. It was low and vibrant, like wind in a chimney. It grew louder, more taut, and the wall blurred, and the floor shook. The noise was in the fabric of the church: it pulsed with sound. Then he heard a heavy door open; and close; and the noise faded away. It was now too still in the church, and the footsteps were moving over the rubble in the passage downstairs. 'Who's that?' said Roland. The footsteps reached the stairs, and began to climb." In 1967 Stephen King first got the idea to write an epic series inspired by the poem "Childe Rowland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning in 1855. And Browning took the line from King Lear, written by Shakespeare in 1607 ... in which it is a line of nonsense from a man pretending madness.

Other books by Alan Garner include The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1960), the first in a trilogy which includes The Moon of Gomrath (1963) and Boneland (2012) . He is also the author of The Owl Service (1967) as well as many other novels, anthologies, collections of folklore and fairy-tales, radio, television and stage plays, and a memoir, Where Shall We Run To? (2018). One day, four ordinary children playing in a ruined church find themselves swept away from the grimy streets of 1960s Manchester and into the mythical world of Elidor. When they return to their suburban home, along with a unicorn named Findhorn, tasked with guarding Elidor’s four treasures, they are pursued by dark forces determined to regain them.There has been much discussion of the ending of Elidor. Elidor is gloriously safe; but Findhorn the Unicorn is horribly dead. Does this mean that Roland is irreparably damaged by his experience? Or is Garner has saying that no victory is without its price? 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. To that extent it puts to Roland the traditional question; “What are you like?” Garner’s presentation of a protagonist who cannot face up to this question, is his original and personal use of the traditional framework. The book is very much concerned with Roland and his search for identity, meaning and purpose in his life; he agrees to go into the mound of Vandwy to recover the treasures of Elidor for Malebron; but he gets the courage for this from his sense of loyalty to others. His brother and sister are trapped in the mound, and he feels he has no choice but to rescue them. Hence any dedication to the cause of “Good” here is unconscious and bound up in the specific act of rescuing his loved ones. It is only later than Roland begins to conceive of himself as in some way allied with Malebron in the battle between light and dark forces in Elidor. Nevertheless a quest has been undertaken, and in very traditional terms; to go into the Magic place – the place of death, the dark tower, the underworld – and rescue the good that is trapped there. In this quest, Roland is successful. He rescues Helen from the equivalent of Elfland, just as his original in the ballad does. [13] Reading the novel resulting from Alan Garner's script, it is possible to envisage how atmospheric the play must have been. The language is almost mystical in parts when read aloud, and with today's opportunities for excellence in cinematic special effects, it seems surprising that it has never been filmed. There's a case for saying that Alan Garner is the finest children's author of the late 20th century, but that does him a disservice. His books appeal to children and adults alike and Elidor is a fine example of his work. Set in Manchester, this is the story of four children who accidentally stumble into the dying world of Elidor and are set the task of safeguarding the four Treasures of Elidor against the forces of darkness that threaten to overwhelm it. But those forces find a way into our world and the children find themselves in a race to find the mysterious Findhorn, whose song will bring salvation to Elidor.