If I could write well and I wanted to write a children's book, this is the book I would write. The Stone Book Quartet is a collection of four short stories in which Alan Garner brings his own Cheshire ancestors back to life with such vibrancy that some of his family were apparently pissed off with him for exposing their secrets. It's wonderful reading for anyone who is into genealogy (as I have been for 25 years) and who enjoys beautiful prose.....the stories are a work of art, with no superfluous language at all.
The stories are linked by time and real-life events over a period of about a century and if you get the Harper Perennial edition there are appendices which give more information about Garner's family and his thoughts on the book.
I know I'm not a great book reviewer anyway but I'm likely to break down and just gibber about this one because I think everyone should read it and I'm at a loss for words to describe why else, except that it is amazing!
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