The Devil on the Road

by Robert Westall

While seeking shelter from a sudden rainstorm in an old barn, a young motorcyclist finds himself catapulted into a mid-17th century England troubled by witch hunts.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult, Time Travel, Childrens, Science Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Robert Westall was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England in 1929.

His first published book The Machine Gunners (1975) which won him the Carnegie Medal is set in World War Two when a group of children living on Tyneside retrieve a machine-gun from a crashed German aircraft. He won the Carnegie Medal again in 1981 for The Scarecrows, the first writer to win it twice. He won the Smarties Prize in 1989 for Blitzcat and the Guardian Award in 1990 for The Kingdom by the Sea. Robert Westall's books have been published in 21 different countries and in 18 different languages, including Braille.

From: http://www.robertwestall.com/

Reviews

[Margo Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a comfort read! Wonderful characters and storytelling (even when they're familiar from countless re-reads), plus a time-travelling cat...

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the very few books my brother read when we were younger and I was intrigued to see what had caught his imagination. As it was a library book it became a regular re-read over my younger years yet sadly I never owned a copy. Now a secondary school teacher, we are about to launch a new reading programme and on completing a reading timeline I realised that this was one of the most significant books of my childhood and certainly shaped my adult reading preferences which, in turn, had a major influence on the person I have become today. Well worth a read if you can find a copy.

[Nick Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a growing lad, and then again last year as an adult, and loved it even more. There is a sense of magic and nostalgia that hits me very powerfully with this time-travelling tale of love and persecution,and it's a shame that it's one of the lesser known of Westall's books - and also that Robert Westall himself seems to remain somewhat underrated, as he is one of the greatest Children's writers I have ever read.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been trying to remember who wrote this book for years, read as a 12 year it was one of my first fantasy/time travel books.

37 years is a long time for a book to stay with you in your memory.

Highly recommended to all my good read friends.

[Alex Ankarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

All-time favourite. Wonderful protagonist, big butch manly bike-riding geezer who turns out to be an intellectual medical student and sensitive empathetic thinker, and then perhaps more of an anti-hero, running out on responsibility and sticking with the herd instead of exerting any actual moral courage. It's real.

The supernatural element is genuinely chilling and hair-prickling, the characterisation is tip-top, this book has haunted my imagination for years. Needs a fillum made of it, and bad.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

unputdownable,imaginative,read it.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Slow start, but I really enjoyed it overall.

[Sky Boswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered this title in a library sale in 1982; it was my first Westall book and I was to become an avid fan, finding used copies of his titles in numerous places over the years. I now have all his books, in various formats, and treasure them all but The Devil On The Road remains my favourite.

I was first attracted by the cover as at the time I hung around with motorcyclists, though to this day I've never met anyone who owned a Cub like John Webster's. As always Bob's writing is engaging, his style and themes draw you in. His historical research is meticulous and characters authentic.
A recurring theme in many of his books is the summer holidays, and perhaps because of this most of my favourite books share this theme (and most are also considered children's books). This particular title is always the last one I read each summer: I have a list of summer reading, always the same books, to which I might add one or two 'new' titles as I discover them. This summer, I've read The Devil On The Road twice as once simply isn't enough even now - the mark of a good story.

The Devil On The Road has a wonderful nostalgia for me as time passes, as in the year of publication I was just a year younger than the protagonist; looking back, life does indeed seem to have been better then, less rushed, less complicated. Although a little editing might be desirable if the book were re-released today, because of changing social attitudes, I feel this is an honest portrayal of a typical young man of the time (1977). Some readers have described John Webster as 'boorish', but I find his character an honest portrayal; he is a likable person.

Shortly after I first read The Devil On The Road I was inspired to write a poem that I'd intended to send to the author, but perhaps it's as well I didn't. It wasn't until many years later that I discovered his son, Chris, was killed in a motorcycle accident shortly after publication, so the poem might have been upsetting for him to read. I'm currently working on a follow up to this wonderful story, which may or may not see publication some day.

There are few people I wish I had met during their lifetime; Robert Westall is one of them and remains a hero. I hope it may be possible that one day some of his unpublished work, of which apparently some remains, may see the light of day.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a ponderous opening, a boorish protagonist and the fact that this book hasn't aged that well in some of the attitudes expressed, once this got into gear I really enjoyed it. The depiction of the Matthew Hopkins era felt authentic - as well as terrifying - and you're able to vicariously experience the bad olde days when witchcraft was an accepted part of life and superstition ruled the roost.

[Kerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just remembered this book last night. It completely captured my imagination as a pre-teen. A great mix of suspense, ghost story, history and pop culture (well... Simon & Garfunkel at least). Makes me want to find a copy and read it againn.

[Janet Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't tell you how much I love this book and the author. Have read lots of times. It's YA as most of his are. A cracking read. This is the paperback copy I now own, possibly bought at the carboot. I'd have read from Stretford Library initially.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very slow to start, and feels rushed when it finally gets going, but nevertheless an original storyline which casts a spell on you. I think the idea may have begun as a simple ghost story like many of Westall's other works, but Joanna is such an endearing character that by the end both author and reader are firmly on her side.

It's a bewitching tragedy which leaves me feeling nostalgic for the world it creates, and reflective about those times you make a choice you can never go back on.

[pinballwitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

My dad read this book as a kid and recently bought me a copy because I ‘had to read it’. I wasn’t sure at the beginning because he talks about motorbikes a little too often for my liking - then suddenly it was the best book I ever read and I couldn’t put it down. Was so surprised by this one. Will be reading the author’s other works. Highly recommend.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent young adult fiction book. John Webster, on summer holiday, is caught in a freak thunderstorm and takes refuge in a barn. From there he is drawn into a mystery concerning a small village, a time traveling cat and a 17th century witch hunt.

[Terre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this growing up and it was one of my favorite books. I've been thinking I would love to get my hands on a copy, but it appears to be out of print. If anyone has one lying around, please let me know.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rip-roaring, fun tale that makes me want to do what I should have done a couple of decades ago: watch The Witchfinder General.

Great cat observations within, too; you know you are reading someone who really knows cats. And that can only be a good thing.

[scarlettraces · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved loved loved this when I was an adolescent. Now I find the gender politics interesting and the 1970s setting (contemporary for writing) wonderfully nostalgic.

[Jones Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books from childhood and I often go back to it.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional story from a master story teller.

[Shmelon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a very young kid, probably elementary school, and the story and cover art made such an impression on me that I remembered enough of it to track it down ~20 years later and read it again. With all this talk of ��healing the inner child,” it comes as a surprise when I encounter the evidence that my own child self is reaching out to me across time, not to ask for my help in healing her, but to offer her help in healing myself. I had no idea when I picked it up how supportive this book would be at this moment in my life.

There are certainly details here that date the story, but overall I think this is an evergreen book that delivers a compelling insight into human relationships: with community, with country, with history, with nature, with god, and with each other. A perfect spooky season read, highly recommend.

[Garick Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Westall is marketed as a YA author, although the American edition (Ace, 1985) of The Devil on the Road was not. The Ace edition has a cool frontispiece by Charles Vess, as well as a pretty nice cover by Barry Jackson. The protagonists are literally young adults (our narrator being a nineteen-year-old college student on holiday, while his love interest is thought by him to be about seventeen, although her exact age is never specified), but otherwise this is a thoroughly adult novel, dealing with themes of love, time travel, and the nature of good and evil. Heavy subjects indeed! And a complex narrative, which Westall handles with apparent ease. The witch at the center of this story, Johanna Vavasour, is a truly masterful creation. Although she occupies relatively little space on the page, Westall manages to make her both a thoroughly human girl, and, on the other side, a formidable woman that the reader can well imagine would overawe the narrator, as well as her contemporaries.

This is surely Westall's masterpiece. I've now read four other books by him and am most of the way through a fifth, but none of them come close to what he achieved here, in this unpretentious and yet profound novel.