![]() ![]() These books are stories which stand hugely in their own right but also layer and cut against each other, their sediment shifting and revealing more of the individual story the more you read the other. I grew up near Whitby and could almost see Aunt Alice, cycling over the bridge and tramping the beach, Ben and Jennet at her side.īut the Deptford books, oh the bigness of these books astounds me so (and my thanks to my equally beloved Michelle Magorian for teaching me the proper way to pronounce Deptford). These are stories which want to be told, to be read, and when they are read, they have the curious impact of pushing themselves under your skin and settling in that odd unsure space between reality and fiction. They are unashamedly children’s books too scary, challenging and yet accessible literature, told in a rolling style that does not dress itself up behind dense stylistic shapes. I am a fan of him, avowedly so, and love his work from the Whitby series to the Deptford books from Aufwader to Green Mouse and everything in between. I think he taught me the concept of telling a single story within a greater whole. I think that Jarvis taught me the concept of story, in a way. ![]() I’m on a bit of a Robin Jarvis kick at the moment, and it was when I reread ‘The Dark Portal’ (the first in the Deptford Mice series) that I came to realise something. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |