William Horwood

[Mouse]

...something about cars being called owls??

This rings a bell. I think it was 'roaring owls' and that it was aeroplanes.

I picked up his new one hydenworld was it? at the library recently as I recognised the authors name, didn't really read the synopsis as the kids were with me.

Let me know what it's like! Like I said, I love William Horwood, but Hydenworld sounded a bit cutesy.

Didn't the author's name sound a warning bell...?

Ha!

 

[crys]

I checked in my cupboards this morning and I still have Duncton Wood and Duncton Tales. Why I kept only the first volume of each trilogy, I don't know. I must have given the other books to family members.

I also came across the Richard Ford Faradawn trilogy. From what I remember it's not that much like the Horwood novels apart from it featuring woodland animals, in this case badgers. But I think if you enjoy the Duncton series you'd probably like that too.

 

[SleepyDormouse]

I've finished Hydenworld now. Well it was a good read, but not really good and I don't think I'll be rushing to get the next in the series. At times I was gripped by the story line, but then would loose interest again.

It did seem a bit predictable in places too..

 

[The Procrastinator]

Ah, Duncton Wood, my love, my love! Always been tempted to design t-shirts about the Stone, but too lazy, and subject matter probably too obscure. I've never quite understood why such a good book never got more attention. Maybe its the mole thing...

First stumbled across it as a teenager staying with my aunt in Sydney for work experience (I was 14 or 15). The guest bedroom had a shelf full of boring sounding books like The Prophet, My Mother My Self, The Female Eunuch, something about Whores and God's Police (you get a little insight into my auntie)...and something called Duncton Wood with a mole on the front. I was all primed for it, being a fan of Watership Down, and while I wasn't exactly gripped by the prospect of reading about moles, the competition wasn't great (I still don't read feminist literature for recreation).

It turned out to be not quite like Watership Down. I devoured it, nevertheless. I didn't discover the sequels until years later, maybe ten years actually. At that point I started buying them.

While I enjoyed them all, several rereads down the track I can say this:
Duncton Wood is a classic. It really is. Its beautifully written, deep, and resonant on many different levels. Its an experience and a thing of art.
The sequels, while worth reading, are less good. The fine balance between the animal experience and the human one is no longer as effectively kept, and while the world of the moles remains compelling, and some of the characters are beautiful, there are flaws that diminish them as well (that whole thing with Boswell was weird, for one).

I think I've only read one other Horwood, The Stonor Eagles, though I have a suspicion I've read another of his (I lose track), and neither was as good. But in my book, to equal what Horwood achieved with Duncton Wood, you have to be pretty damn good.

 

[woodsman]

Yeah, read the Duncton books a few years ago now. The first one was great but after that I think they lost their way a bit.

I did enjoy his sequels to Kenneth Graham's Wind In The Willows particularly The Willows at Christmas. They're a different approach to the world and not as good as the original, in my opinion but I still enjoyed them.

As for reading books more than once, I struggle to think of a book I haven't read at least twice

 

[Mouse]

I've finished Hydenworld now. Well it was a good read, but not really good and I don't think I'll be rushing to get the next in the series. At times I was gripped by the story line, but then would loose interest again.

It did seem a bit predictable in places too..

Ah, I won't bother with that one then!

The sequels, while worth reading, are less good.

Yeah, read the Duncton books a few years ago now. The first one was great but after that I think they lost their way a bit.

See, I disagree with you two there! I thought from book two they got better. I preferred reading about Tryfan and Spindle rather than Bracken and Rebecca.

(Although I agree with the Boswell comment!)

 

[Rane Longfox]

I read William Horwood when I was a kid too. Loved Duncton Wood, it just went on and on forever Also lived near some of the places mentioned, which always makes a book more interesting I think.
The series went downhill a bit when they went to Wales, iirc.

 

[Silvio dante]

Duncton Wood was and is one of the most beautiful Books I've had the honour to read. Also its accompanying books are all in their own way spirit enhancing.

I cried tears of joy and despair with every installment. Bracken and Rebecca will always be the figureheads but I also liked Tryfan very much along with Blessed Boswell of the Holy Burrows of Uffington.

However my favourite character of all was Comfrey. Another of Bracken and Rebecca children. He was quiet, shy and had a speech impediment. But grew to become a reveared Healer...
it's all coming back to me now...

 

[Silvio dante]

The Sevenfold Blessing that old Hulver taught Bracken. Words that cmoforted him in his time of lonliness and despair...

'The grace of form
Tbe grace of goodness
The grace of suffering
The grace of wisdom
The grace of true words
The grace of trust
The grace of whole-souled loveliness.'

 

[GOLLUM]

Also have Duncton Wood and Duncton Tales. Really loved those books when I was younger....