What do you think?
Rate this book
The Burning
In the cottages around The Green sleeps a memory of long-dead hands that once wielded a terrible power. Now it is only slumbering, waiting for somewhere to feed and grow, someone to embrace its awesome power and turn it to new purposes. On the eve of Bonfire Night, it is nudged to wakefulness: a stranger all the way from Canada on a quest for family history; friends Jan and Kate's sortie into a long-closed attic to find debris for the bonfire on The Green. This is a community holding an uneasy truce between tourist interest in legends of witchcraft and the terrible reality of a fire that burned scores of cottages and their inhabitants years before. Bonfire Night looms; objectors say there hasn't been a bonfore on The Green since The Fire and there shouldn't ever be again. The waking power feeds on the anxieties, puts out tendrils in search of a mind to sieze - and finds Jan. Into her hands will flow the deadly malevolence that once made The Burning. Into her mind will flow the hatred that once consumed everything...
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 20, 2000
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Judy Allen
119 books24 followersJudy Allen is an award-winning author whose novel Awaiting Developments was short-listed for the Whitbread Children's Novel Award.
Judy Allen, along with illustrator Tudor Humphries, created Kingfisher's award-winning Backyard Books series and many other successful books, including the Reading Rainbow selections Tiger and Seal.
Judy Allen, along with illustrator Tudor Humphries, created Kingfisher's award-winning Backyard Books series and many other successful books, including the Reading Rainbow selections Tiger and Seal.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 30, 2022
The Burning by Judy Allen
A stranger all the way from Canada arrives in an English village clad in leathers and riding a motorbike.
Ned is an unwelcome visitor, as he turns out to be a descendent of the hated wealthy family who owned the local mill generations ago.
His quest for family history leads to friction with some of the locals, since this is a community divided by those who are hanging onto the past at all costs and those who are looking to the future. Regarding the night the mill burned down, Ned is determined to discover why the version of events he has always believed is quite different from that which the villagers relate.
It was a conflagration which spread quickly, burning many cottagers and their inhabitants, and it is still a raw subject for some.
It is due to the memory of the fire that bonfires on The Green have been banned ever since. This year, however, a significant number of people are planning ignore the objectors and go ahead with celebrations on November 5 in an effort to put the past behind them.
But the past does not wish to be laid to rest. In the cottages around The Green the memory of a terrible power lies dormant. Yet it is merely slumbering, awaiting the arrival of a suitable host in whom it can grow again, someone who will be willing to embrace it and use it once more for destructive purposes.
This is also a story about two teenage friends, Jan and Kate. Jan is indifferent about many things, and Kate is bold and controlling.
However, on the eve of Bonfire Night, Jan and Kate venture into a long-sealed attic to find wood to feed the bonfire on The Green. What they discover there leads to a reversal of roles as a malevolent force is woken and finds a foothold in Jan’s apathetic nature. The deadly power that once caused The Burning begins to flow through her hands, as her mind is consumed by the same hatred that once motivated one of her ancestors.
This book was darker in tone than The Stones of the Moon. The power of the Stones was impersonal and originally intended to be beneficial, but the force awakened in The Burning is exactly the opposite. However, the author deliberately leaves it undefined, probably to make it feel more sinister.
This story convincingly describes and analyzes relationships between very different personalities, as well as the damaging potential of prejudice and superstition.
The tension which permeates the book is very well controlled. It builds up almost imperceptibly to reach a somewhat surprisingly intense crescendo near to the end.
Although described as being aimed at children between 9 and 12 years old, I feel that due to its darker themes and certain complexities (for example, nefarious goings-on at the mill only hinted at, and various genealogical convolutions) it would perhaps be more suitable for readers in their early teens.
Although relatively new with a first publication date of 2000, The Burning, like The Stones of the Moon, appears to be another forgotten treasure, as there are almost no comments or reviews on it online. Happily, it is now available as a Kindle ebook at very little expense. I recommend anyone who enjoys intrusion fantasy aimed at young people to pick up a copy.
Below are a small number of quotations from this book:
…the present is always shaped by the past, even if it isn’t obvious.
Agitation creates its own kind of energy, and the energy was infectious.
He always wanted everyone to be on good terms with each other. It was one of the nicest things about him, but it was also one of the most annoying.
‘Must be synchronicity,’ said Ned. ‘Must be what?’ said Kate, who had more or less recovered herself. ‘It has to do with coincidences,’ said Ned. ‘It means if you get a lot of coincidences together there could be an underlying meaning.’
The Samain fires were lit to revitalise the dying sun. They were fires of renewal, cleansing fires, designed to burn all that was evil and to strengthen all that was good.
A stranger all the way from Canada arrives in an English village clad in leathers and riding a motorbike.
Ned is an unwelcome visitor, as he turns out to be a descendent of the hated wealthy family who owned the local mill generations ago.
His quest for family history leads to friction with some of the locals, since this is a community divided by those who are hanging onto the past at all costs and those who are looking to the future. Regarding the night the mill burned down, Ned is determined to discover why the version of events he has always believed is quite different from that which the villagers relate.
It was a conflagration which spread quickly, burning many cottagers and their inhabitants, and it is still a raw subject for some.
It is due to the memory of the fire that bonfires on The Green have been banned ever since. This year, however, a significant number of people are planning ignore the objectors and go ahead with celebrations on November 5 in an effort to put the past behind them.
But the past does not wish to be laid to rest. In the cottages around The Green the memory of a terrible power lies dormant. Yet it is merely slumbering, awaiting the arrival of a suitable host in whom it can grow again, someone who will be willing to embrace it and use it once more for destructive purposes.
This is also a story about two teenage friends, Jan and Kate. Jan is indifferent about many things, and Kate is bold and controlling.
However, on the eve of Bonfire Night, Jan and Kate venture into a long-sealed attic to find wood to feed the bonfire on The Green. What they discover there leads to a reversal of roles as a malevolent force is woken and finds a foothold in Jan’s apathetic nature. The deadly power that once caused The Burning begins to flow through her hands, as her mind is consumed by the same hatred that once motivated one of her ancestors.
This book was darker in tone than The Stones of the Moon. The power of the Stones was impersonal and originally intended to be beneficial, but the force awakened in The Burning is exactly the opposite. However, the author deliberately leaves it undefined, probably to make it feel more sinister.
This story convincingly describes and analyzes relationships between very different personalities, as well as the damaging potential of prejudice and superstition.
The tension which permeates the book is very well controlled. It builds up almost imperceptibly to reach a somewhat surprisingly intense crescendo near to the end.
Although described as being aimed at children between 9 and 12 years old, I feel that due to its darker themes and certain complexities (for example, nefarious goings-on at the mill only hinted at, and various genealogical convolutions) it would perhaps be more suitable for readers in their early teens.
Although relatively new with a first publication date of 2000, The Burning, like The Stones of the Moon, appears to be another forgotten treasure, as there are almost no comments or reviews on it online. Happily, it is now available as a Kindle ebook at very little expense. I recommend anyone who enjoys intrusion fantasy aimed at young people to pick up a copy.
Below are a small number of quotations from this book:
…the present is always shaped by the past, even if it isn’t obvious.
Agitation creates its own kind of energy, and the energy was infectious.
He always wanted everyone to be on good terms with each other. It was one of the nicest things about him, but it was also one of the most annoying.
‘Must be synchronicity,’ said Ned. ‘Must be what?’ said Kate, who had more or less recovered herself. ‘It has to do with coincidences,’ said Ned. ‘It means if you get a lot of coincidences together there could be an underlying meaning.’
The Samain fires were lit to revitalise the dying sun. They were fires of renewal, cleansing fires, designed to burn all that was evil and to strengthen all that was good.
July 16, 2023
Good story - love anything to do with witches and this was a good adaption of a witch in history in a modern world story. Especially liked the inclusion of anthropomorphism of houses
February 8, 2012
This turned out to be more interesting than I thought it would be. An easy but worthwhile read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews