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The House on the Brink
After a whirlwind ride downriver in a stolen rowboat, Dick Dodds discovers a strange trail in the black marsh mud. When he steps into it, Dick feels for the first time the cold shudder of "cemeteries opening up." From that moment on, he is haunted by the shadowy legend of King John's treasure lost in the marshes.
Dick meets Helen Johnson, who shares his fear. Frightened, yet intrigued by the eerie power of the trail, they follow where it leads. They are drawn into a mystery that takes them into the secret life of a small town and into dangers that reach a terrifying climax in the house on the brink.
Dick meets Helen Johnson, who shares his fear. Frightened, yet intrigued by the eerie power of the trail, they follow where it leads. They are drawn into a mystery that takes them into the secret life of a small town and into dangers that reach a terrifying climax in the house on the brink.
217 pages, Hardcover
First published October 5, 1970
About the author
John Gordon
38 books28 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Gordon was an English writer of adolescent supernatural fiction. He was the author of fifteen fantasy novels (including The Giant Under The Snow), four short story collections, over fifty short stories, and a teenage memoir. For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gor...
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Gordon was an English writer of adolescent supernatural fiction. He was the author of fifteen fantasy novels (including The Giant Under The Snow), four short story collections, over fifty short stories, and a teenage memoir. For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gor...
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
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August 31, 2022Now available to preorder from Valancourt Books.
July 25, 2017
An impulsive dare one evening almost sends teenaged Dick Dodds rushing out to sea on a (ahem) borrowed rowboat. Rescuing himself at the last minute, he plods through the fenlands back to dry land, and passes a trail in the mud that makes him feel “Like cemeteries opening up. I was amongst the dead…”
Investigating the trail — which leaves the fenlands for dry land, but which Dick can still somehow feel, even if he can’t see it — he meets Helen Johnson, who witnessed something moving past her father’s farmlands on the evening of Dick’s misadventure, something “like a man all tied up, no legs and no arms. But it kept moving. Sort of gliding…”
Investigation of the trail leads them to a well-off but superstitious young widow, Mrs Knowles, who feels that her house stands on the borderland between the “bad” river, and the “good” Silver Fields (which she sees glinting in the sunlight of a morning), and whose relationship with a local solicitor, Mr Miller, may be entangling her in the search for a cursed treasure said to be lost among the fens.
This may make it sound like something of a Scooby Doo escapade, but The House on the Brink is as much interested in the sensitivities of its teen protagonists as it is in their investigation of the supernatural. Dick is a typical mid-teen boy, driven by the need to prove himself with little tests of bravery, and to make his mark in a class-conscious and constraining adult world. His growing relationship with Helen is as full of typical teenage ups and downs as it is of spooky mystery.
It’s a well-written book, in the terse poetic style that seemed to blossom in late 60s/early 70s YA, doing a good job of capturing, in intense little disconnected details, the feeling of being on the verge of adulthood and getting a glimpse of some of the grown-up world’s darker mysteries.
Investigating the trail — which leaves the fenlands for dry land, but which Dick can still somehow feel, even if he can’t see it — he meets Helen Johnson, who witnessed something moving past her father’s farmlands on the evening of Dick’s misadventure, something “like a man all tied up, no legs and no arms. But it kept moving. Sort of gliding…”
Investigation of the trail leads them to a well-off but superstitious young widow, Mrs Knowles, who feels that her house stands on the borderland between the “bad” river, and the “good” Silver Fields (which she sees glinting in the sunlight of a morning), and whose relationship with a local solicitor, Mr Miller, may be entangling her in the search for a cursed treasure said to be lost among the fens.
This may make it sound like something of a Scooby Doo escapade, but The House on the Brink is as much interested in the sensitivities of its teen protagonists as it is in their investigation of the supernatural. Dick is a typical mid-teen boy, driven by the need to prove himself with little tests of bravery, and to make his mark in a class-conscious and constraining adult world. His growing relationship with Helen is as full of typical teenage ups and downs as it is of spooky mystery.
It’s a well-written book, in the terse poetic style that seemed to blossom in late 60s/early 70s YA, doing a good job of capturing, in intense little disconnected details, the feeling of being on the verge of adulthood and getting a glimpse of some of the grown-up world’s darker mysteries.
May 14, 2024
This book managed to make driftwood terrifying.
No, seriously - I never expected to be so scared of a log (which wasn't faecal matter).
We have this group (which you are welcome to join) called "Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished!", and it's precisely for old but awesome books like this, which can be very difficult to find secondhand (and usually even more difficult to afford or at least justify - this one is both). Thankfully, Valancourt Books very wisely picked up the rights to this. I'm so glad that they did. I'm rounding it up from a 4-and-a-bit to 5 star because it's available again. It's worth getting a copy while the getting is still good!
Another reviewer already said "Bradbury-esque", and I'm glad that they did. I thought the same thing, but wasn't quite sure I should write it (I put Bradbury on a pretty high pedestal). Dick Dodds is a 16 year old boy with whom I have virtually nothing in common: he's a poetic soul, and a obligate risk-taker and daredevil. He routinely does things I have never felt the impulse to do, and as a middle-aged mother, stunts that I despair of. His whim of stealing a boat in the night on the river, which nearly costs him his life for real-world reasons, is one such act of recklessness. It earns him a wet and dreadful night and a long, cold walk back along the estuary, which utterly fails to reform his impulsivity. (Think Anne of Green Gables - she's similar in spirit, but female and therefore just that much more sensible. Although walking a ridge pole and reenacting The Lady of Shalott's death weren't exactly wise moves, either).
There's only one thing I didn't like about this story, full of water-divination (dowsing!), legendary lost treasure belonging to Bad King John (which is still, in reality, driving people to obsession! At time of review, there's a Yorkshire man named Raymond Kosschuk who's looking for sponsors to help pay for excavation of a site at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, after having secured permission to dig: https://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/ne... ), and first love: it's the climax. It's certainly exciting, but I was quite confused about what actually happened there, at the titular House on the Brink. Spoilers follow: . This is what knocked it back from a 5 star for me (I'm rounding up, as I stated earlier). It wasn't that it was disappointing, only that I remain confused. A schematic of the house would have helped, too.
Otherwise, I rather liked it. It might belong on my Favourites shelf - will wait and see how I feel about it later on. ;) Very creepy, very good - this was the sort of story I was hoping to get when I read Ring of Death (meh) and The Haunted Sand (meh, but at least archaeologically interesting and more haunting than the former).
I don't think Valancourt's choice of cover was good (the house can't look like the one pictured at all!), and the original cover art is certainly closer to the mark. But apart from one or two typos (a Miler for a Miller, and a missed space elsewhere), this is a nice, new, and importantly affordable and attainable book. Snatch it up, is my advice. There's a reason the story stood the test of time. :)
It's possibly the creepiest read so far of my one-reader-October-readathon. :)
No, seriously - I never expected to be so scared of a log (which wasn't faecal matter).
We have this group (which you are welcome to join) called "Forgotten Vintage Children's Lit We Want Republished!", and it's precisely for old but awesome books like this, which can be very difficult to find secondhand (and usually even more difficult to afford or at least justify - this one is both). Thankfully, Valancourt Books very wisely picked up the rights to this. I'm so glad that they did. I'm rounding it up from a 4-and-a-bit to 5 star because it's available again. It's worth getting a copy while the getting is still good!
Another reviewer already said "Bradbury-esque", and I'm glad that they did. I thought the same thing, but wasn't quite sure I should write it (I put Bradbury on a pretty high pedestal). Dick Dodds is a 16 year old boy with whom I have virtually nothing in common: he's a poetic soul, and a obligate risk-taker and daredevil. He routinely does things I have never felt the impulse to do, and as a middle-aged mother, stunts that I despair of. His whim of stealing a boat in the night on the river, which nearly costs him his life for real-world reasons, is one such act of recklessness. It earns him a wet and dreadful night and a long, cold walk back along the estuary, which utterly fails to reform his impulsivity. (Think Anne of Green Gables - she's similar in spirit, but female and therefore just that much more sensible. Although walking a ridge pole and reenacting The Lady of Shalott's death weren't exactly wise moves, either).
There's only one thing I didn't like about this story, full of water-divination (dowsing!), legendary lost treasure belonging to Bad King John (which is still, in reality, driving people to obsession! At time of review, there's a Yorkshire man named Raymond Kosschuk who's looking for sponsors to help pay for excavation of a site at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, after having secured permission to dig: https://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/ne... ), and first love: it's the climax. It's certainly exciting, but I was quite confused about what actually happened there, at the titular House on the Brink. Spoilers follow: . This is what knocked it back from a 5 star for me (I'm rounding up, as I stated earlier). It wasn't that it was disappointing, only that I remain confused. A schematic of the house would have helped, too.
Otherwise, I rather liked it. It might belong on my Favourites shelf - will wait and see how I feel about it later on. ;) Very creepy, very good - this was the sort of story I was hoping to get when I read Ring of Death (meh) and The Haunted Sand (meh, but at least archaeologically interesting and more haunting than the former).
I don't think Valancourt's choice of cover was good (the house can't look like the one pictured at all!), and the original cover art is certainly closer to the mark. But apart from one or two typos (a Miler for a Miller, and a missed space elsewhere), this is a nice, new, and importantly affordable and attainable book. Snatch it up, is my advice. There's a reason the story stood the test of time. :)
It's possibly the creepiest read so far of my one-reader-October-readathon. :)
May 24, 2014
This freaked me out so much when I was a child, I never finished reading it ! Still has creepy undertones and chilling moments in it. Glad I revisited it, all these (many) years later.
May 9, 2017
Just marvelous. YA writing at its best. A bit Bradbury-ish and obviously influenced by M.R. James (particularly the James story "A Warning to the Curious"). I'd take 1 book like this over 50 Stephen King novels.
February 26, 2017
A re-read of a book first read as a child. Possibly some of the light romance elements went over my head at that age; I only recall that it was a spooky tale. It is set in the fens, an area of East Anglia, which is very flat and was reclaimed from the sea in ancient times. A well known legend is that King John lost his treasure in the Wash, an estuarine area in the fens, and this legend forms the basis of the story.
Dick (traditionally a nickname for Richard though less in favour than when the book was written) is a young man, still at school and with a slight daredevil streak. He is told by Mrs Knowles, a widow who takes an interest in his efforts at poetry, that there is a 'dark' side and 'light' side to her house. She describes a spooky experience when she was with an unnamed man near the sea and they came upon what appeared to be a waterlogged tree branch which then shifted as if alive. That night, he goes to investigate and finds the place, but the log is gone and instead there is a trail of coldness and dread. He follows, though he eventually loses it, but meets a young girl who has seen the thing moving by itself in the orchard of her family's farm.
Over the next few days, as they follow up the mystery together, they start to become closer romantically. Meanwhile they contend with various adults, some of whom try to put them off the whole thing or put it down to their water divining abilities. A Mr Miller, who turns out to be the man whom Mrs Knowles was with when she found the log, is rather sinister. They discover he has an interest in finding the treasure of King John, and he reacts with hostility to their involvement, especially to Dick. Meanwhile, the log's trail and sometimes the log itself keeps turning up and things head for a climax, with Mrs Knowles becoming mentally disturbed into the bargain.
Dick (traditionally a nickname for Richard though less in favour than when the book was written) is a young man, still at school and with a slight daredevil streak. He is told by Mrs Knowles, a widow who takes an interest in his efforts at poetry, that there is a 'dark' side and 'light' side to her house. She describes a spooky experience when she was with an unnamed man near the sea and they came upon what appeared to be a waterlogged tree branch which then shifted as if alive. That night, he goes to investigate and finds the place, but the log is gone and instead there is a trail of coldness and dread. He follows, though he eventually loses it, but meets a young girl who has seen the thing moving by itself in the orchard of her family's farm.
Over the next few days, as they follow up the mystery together, they start to become closer romantically. Meanwhile they contend with various adults, some of whom try to put them off the whole thing or put it down to their water divining abilities. A Mr Miller, who turns out to be the man whom Mrs Knowles was with when she found the log, is rather sinister. They discover he has an interest in finding the treasure of King John, and he reacts with hostility to their involvement, especially to Dick. Meanwhile, the log's trail and sometimes the log itself keeps turning up and things head for a climax, with Mrs Knowles becoming mentally disturbed into the bargain.
June 16, 2022
The House on the Brink by John Gordon
Dating from 1970, this Fenland tale tells the story of a shy but obsessive teenager named Dick Dobbs who finds that he has a profound connection with the water of the Fens.
When he hears the words of a wealthy young widow, Mrs. Knowles, at a local literature evening class, he becomes fixated by what may or may not be her vivid imaginings. Mrs. Knowles, who is generally regarded as being neurotic, believes she is being both haunted and hunted by a sinister black log which she saw pulled out of the Fenland mud near the sea. Mrs. Knowles says, ‘My house… has a good side and a bad. The river is on the dark side. Everything it contains is contaminated… And out the back of my house… somewhere in the distance, there is something that when it appears always gives me hope… I call it the Silver Fields.’
Dick quickly becomes enmeshed in her alleged neurosis and finds himself both fascinated and horrified by the presence of the log and the trail it leaves as it mysteriously continues its journey inland, apparently with the house of the widow as its final destination. Affected by the widow’s words, that very night Dick makes a trip to the fens near the sea, and as he returns he passes a track in the mud that sends a chill up his spine:
‘I stepped into that trail and it seemed to put the moon out. Everything darkened. I went cold and stiff and then I fell. I must have done. I was on my hands and knees just a short distance away from the trail and I could feel the moon on my back.’
Next day, when Dick discovers he can still feel the trail on dry land, he follows it and comes to the house of Helen Johnson, who says she saw something passing through her father’s farmlands the night before:
‘It was like a man all tied up, no legs and no arms. But it kept moving. Sort of gliding…’
Since Helen shares the ability to ‘feel’ the trail of the log, the two launch an investigation, the motivation for which is kept alive by bursts of impetuous daring from Dick, but which is hampered by Helen’s natural caution and their incipient romance.
The line between reality and imagination is blurred throughout the story, and Gordon is highly adept at creating and maintaining this unsettling effect. Dick’s two other friends, Jim and Pat, see no mystery worth investigating and are convinced that Dick is just trying to scare them unnecessarily. Even Helen wavers between belief in the fact that something evil and uncanny is occurring, and doubt that they are creating the mystery themselves out of nothing. But real or not, Gordon carefully manages and controls the dark atmosphere, even though many of the events take place under the baking heat of the summer sun.
Regarding the title of the book, what ‘brink’ is referred to? Evidently, Gordon took Peckover House in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, as his inspiration for Mrs. Knowles’ residence. Peckover House is located on North Brink next to the River Nene, and can now be visited by the public since it is managed by The National Trust. Of course, possible figurative meanings for the word will also come to mind while reading the book; ‘the brink of reality’ and ‘the brink of insanity’ will likely be amongst these. Indeed, the book pays homage to the horror tropes of obsession and evils from the past which are best left alone, while at the same time being firmly grounded in a real geographical location, as many of the young adult stories of Alan Garner and Penelope Lively are. The narrative often uses short, concise sentences which express a surprising amount of meaning and sentiment, making it feel almost poetic in places.
I must admit that I found the repetitive going back and forth between places a little annoying, but this seems to have been done to emphasize the impulsiveness and indecisiveness of the main characters, who, as teenagers, have both the supreme self-confidence and the self-doubts common to young people.
At its core 'The House on the Brink' is a memorable, highly atmospheric and realistic tale of adolescence, friendship, love, madness, and magic. As they are in most Young Adult books, the teens are pivotal to the outcome of the story because, being at the crucial point between childhood and adulthood, they are free to move between both worlds, and peer into mysteries which grownups do not even realize may exist.
Oddly enough, despite all its merits, of the five novels by John Gordon I have read up until now, I still like The Edge of the World best. The House on the Brink comes in a close second, and I would put Fen Runners and The Giant Under the Snow together in third place. I think that overall The Quelling Eye is my least favorite so far. Well, now onwards to read The Midwinter Watch…
Dating from 1970, this Fenland tale tells the story of a shy but obsessive teenager named Dick Dobbs who finds that he has a profound connection with the water of the Fens.
When he hears the words of a wealthy young widow, Mrs. Knowles, at a local literature evening class, he becomes fixated by what may or may not be her vivid imaginings. Mrs. Knowles, who is generally regarded as being neurotic, believes she is being both haunted and hunted by a sinister black log which she saw pulled out of the Fenland mud near the sea. Mrs. Knowles says, ‘My house… has a good side and a bad. The river is on the dark side. Everything it contains is contaminated… And out the back of my house… somewhere in the distance, there is something that when it appears always gives me hope… I call it the Silver Fields.’
Dick quickly becomes enmeshed in her alleged neurosis and finds himself both fascinated and horrified by the presence of the log and the trail it leaves as it mysteriously continues its journey inland, apparently with the house of the widow as its final destination. Affected by the widow’s words, that very night Dick makes a trip to the fens near the sea, and as he returns he passes a track in the mud that sends a chill up his spine:
‘I stepped into that trail and it seemed to put the moon out. Everything darkened. I went cold and stiff and then I fell. I must have done. I was on my hands and knees just a short distance away from the trail and I could feel the moon on my back.’
Next day, when Dick discovers he can still feel the trail on dry land, he follows it and comes to the house of Helen Johnson, who says she saw something passing through her father’s farmlands the night before:
‘It was like a man all tied up, no legs and no arms. But it kept moving. Sort of gliding…’
Since Helen shares the ability to ‘feel’ the trail of the log, the two launch an investigation, the motivation for which is kept alive by bursts of impetuous daring from Dick, but which is hampered by Helen’s natural caution and their incipient romance.
The line between reality and imagination is blurred throughout the story, and Gordon is highly adept at creating and maintaining this unsettling effect. Dick’s two other friends, Jim and Pat, see no mystery worth investigating and are convinced that Dick is just trying to scare them unnecessarily. Even Helen wavers between belief in the fact that something evil and uncanny is occurring, and doubt that they are creating the mystery themselves out of nothing. But real or not, Gordon carefully manages and controls the dark atmosphere, even though many of the events take place under the baking heat of the summer sun.
Regarding the title of the book, what ‘brink’ is referred to? Evidently, Gordon took Peckover House in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, as his inspiration for Mrs. Knowles’ residence. Peckover House is located on North Brink next to the River Nene, and can now be visited by the public since it is managed by The National Trust. Of course, possible figurative meanings for the word will also come to mind while reading the book; ‘the brink of reality’ and ‘the brink of insanity’ will likely be amongst these. Indeed, the book pays homage to the horror tropes of obsession and evils from the past which are best left alone, while at the same time being firmly grounded in a real geographical location, as many of the young adult stories of Alan Garner and Penelope Lively are. The narrative often uses short, concise sentences which express a surprising amount of meaning and sentiment, making it feel almost poetic in places.
I must admit that I found the repetitive going back and forth between places a little annoying, but this seems to have been done to emphasize the impulsiveness and indecisiveness of the main characters, who, as teenagers, have both the supreme self-confidence and the self-doubts common to young people.
At its core 'The House on the Brink' is a memorable, highly atmospheric and realistic tale of adolescence, friendship, love, madness, and magic. As they are in most Young Adult books, the teens are pivotal to the outcome of the story because, being at the crucial point between childhood and adulthood, they are free to move between both worlds, and peer into mysteries which grownups do not even realize may exist.
Oddly enough, despite all its merits, of the five novels by John Gordon I have read up until now, I still like The Edge of the World best. The House on the Brink comes in a close second, and I would put Fen Runners and The Giant Under the Snow together in third place. I think that overall The Quelling Eye is my least favorite so far. Well, now onwards to read The Midwinter Watch…
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January 4, 2023The blurb makes much of this being a novel "in the M.R. James tradition", and obviously a novel will need structural differences to a short story, which explains the earlier glimpses of the ominous something – but even so it seems a stretch when instead of one bachelor outsider, the leads are kids native to the area, who have the sporadic courage of youth, even engage in a spot of kissing, and have each other plus gently humorous families there for them in between their brushes with horror. The prose, too, rather than being the welcoming, comfortable tones of a storytelling don, is choppier, at least a little touched by modernism:
"The light was above the side door of a house. Calm and pale, it possessed the yard. He drank it.
And then the door opened."
Plus, given this was originally published for younger readers, it's hopefully no spoiler to say that things end better than they do for the average, doomed James protagonist.
Against which: yes, there is something unknown, horrible and moist in the Fens, with a link to an old treasure that lures the avaricious and unwary. And for all that I love James, none of the aforementioned points of difference is a problem as such, they're just not very James-y. Considered on its own terms, or as something which could very easily have popped up on children's TV back in the haunted generation days, this is an effective little chiller.
"The light was above the side door of a house. Calm and pale, it possessed the yard. He drank it.
And then the door opened."
Plus, given this was originally published for younger readers, it's hopefully no spoiler to say that things end better than they do for the average, doomed James protagonist.
Against which: yes, there is something unknown, horrible and moist in the Fens, with a link to an old treasure that lures the avaricious and unwary. And for all that I love James, none of the aforementioned points of difference is a problem as such, they're just not very James-y. Considered on its own terms, or as something which could very easily have popped up on children's TV back in the haunted generation days, this is an effective little chiller.
March 19, 2023
It’s not an easy book to like, but definitely one to admire. Gordon achieves much of the book’s intensity through these odd, terse thickets of dialogue and prose. Everything is very to the point and almost abrupt, and there is a lot of walking around ideas where lesser novels would spell them out. As such Gordon asks a LOT from his readers, but it absolutely pays off. There’s no surprise that MR James fans consider this and Our Lady Of Darkness the best Jamesian novels, although the latter very much brings you into the situation of its hero while Gordon keeps us at arm’s length throughout. As such I found it often hard going because there’s a degree of it being a book that never fully gives back all the work you’re putting into it, but when it does suddenly reveal it’s significant horrors (and the stump is the sort of idea James would absolutely have appreciated) it has a real emotional wallop. It’s just sometimes a long and arduous journey to those moments
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August 23, 2023The House on the Brink by John Gordon
I absolutely love the cover of this book! I feel in love with it when browsing The Bookmark in Halifax. They have so many horror novels published by Valancourt Books and they are all so gorgeous. The language that was used in this novella was stunning. It was beautifully written. It was first publish in 1970, so it was written in such a way that took longer and more thought but the metaphors and descriptions were everything. It had all the summer vibes.
Once I realized what the horror was, I have to admit I did roll my eyes, but the ending had me gasping!
I absolutely love the cover of this book! I feel in love with it when browsing The Bookmark in Halifax. They have so many horror novels published by Valancourt Books and they are all so gorgeous. The language that was used in this novella was stunning. It was beautifully written. It was first publish in 1970, so it was written in such a way that took longer and more thought but the metaphors and descriptions were everything. It had all the summer vibes.
Once I realized what the horror was, I have to admit I did roll my eyes, but the ending had me gasping!
October 18, 2025
This just didn’t do anything for me I’m afraid. I didn’t hate the writing style but I found it quite hard to follow. I finished the book feeling a little unsure of what had actually happened. There were some sweet parts focusing on the relationship between Dick and Helen, and there were some creepy bits, but I ultimately didn’t really like any of the characters. It was mostly just fine; a very, very quick read for me.
Content Notes:
Warnings: .
Content Notes:
Warnings: .
November 2, 2022
A really atmospheric YA story set in the Fens. I enjoyed the creepy elements but also the realistic relationships between the teenage characters and their families. I could easily imagine that this had been made into a spooky drama in the early 70s, it's a pity that it wasn't.
May 19, 2023
audible:This book was good,but slow.I liked it very much though. Hannibal Hills was the perfect narrator for the eerie feel of it. was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
October 9, 2023
A revisited classic from childhood. I liked it better this time round I think. It’s written in a strange spare style that leaves plenty to the imagination and bows respectfully throughout to the strangeness of the fens.
November 20, 2019
Atmospheric children's supernatural tale set in Wisbech and the Fens. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the wonderful Giant under the snow which was a favourite when I was a kid. Excellent.
October 31, 2020
Interesting... but not gripping. If you are coming to this from reading The Giant in the Snow, then you will be disappointed.
October 1, 2021
This book was a favourite of mine when I was a kid and I still enjoy a reread every decade or so.
December 29, 2022
Touted as a novel of Jamesian horror. For me, it stretched the plot a little thin. There were a lot of scenes of kids riding their bikes. I enjoyed this, but it showed its age in parts.
February 4, 2023
KSS!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2023
Log lady origin story
Quite like an Alan Garner with slightly more exposition
Quite like an Alan Garner with slightly more exposition
October 29, 2023
"In the distance cars flashed like a carnival in the sunlight, but their sound did not reach him."
"A tractor stood there, its huge wheels like grasshopper legs folded to leap."
"Outside, the narrow street was full of stale heat. The red brick of the houses seemed to be powdering into dust, slowly burning in the sun’s rays."
Three quotes to illustrate just why I love John Gordon's writing so much. He had a vision of things that twists reality into poetry, somehow.
Not just that, but his books are always populated by real people who speak real dialogue. And, unlike many books from my childhood where the adult characters and Real Life were forbidden by the author from meeting or believing in the magic of OTHER worlds that exist alongside, Gordon weaves the two together. In his worlds the grown-ups don't question The Other, they are part of it, they live with it, they accept it as being as real as the usual, mundane, everyday world around them. Alan Garner is the same. These two authors remove that irritating, grating borderland.
Gordon uses his frequently visited trope of a couple of teenagers, with various hangers-on, who become part of a timeless, mysterious, legend-shrouded story that blurs the contemporary world with the past. It works every time, from this novel, through the excellent Giant Under The Snow to the slightly more adult The Ghost On The Hill. This formula never spoils because everyone portrayed is so real. I can't get enough of these novels.
"A tractor stood there, its huge wheels like grasshopper legs folded to leap."
"Outside, the narrow street was full of stale heat. The red brick of the houses seemed to be powdering into dust, slowly burning in the sun’s rays."
Three quotes to illustrate just why I love John Gordon's writing so much. He had a vision of things that twists reality into poetry, somehow.
Not just that, but his books are always populated by real people who speak real dialogue. And, unlike many books from my childhood where the adult characters and Real Life were forbidden by the author from meeting or believing in the magic of OTHER worlds that exist alongside, Gordon weaves the two together. In his worlds the grown-ups don't question The Other, they are part of it, they live with it, they accept it as being as real as the usual, mundane, everyday world around them. Alan Garner is the same. These two authors remove that irritating, grating borderland.
Gordon uses his frequently visited trope of a couple of teenagers, with various hangers-on, who become part of a timeless, mysterious, legend-shrouded story that blurs the contemporary world with the past. It works every time, from this novel, through the excellent Giant Under The Snow to the slightly more adult The Ghost On The Hill. This formula never spoils because everyone portrayed is so real. I can't get enough of these novels.
September 10, 2025
This novella was originally published in 1970 and reprinted in 2022. A word of caution. When reading this, the sensibilities of the times were pronounced. Lots of old notions about gender. That was disappointing, but not unexpected given the publication date.
This novel had a really unique premise involving a bog, water, a trail and the strange feelings it elicits in a select few. It has beautiful descriptions of the East Anglia countryside and a small township. I also appreciated the cool cast of characters. We had a pack of teenagers, a wealthy widow in a mansion, a wise woman in the village and the bog itself (which is its own sort of presence).
Overall, for a short novel, I'd say the pace was slow and the vibes shifted between the focus on the creepy and focus on teenagers navigating a first relationship. We are often caught up in mood swings that come out of nowhere, conversations between 4 or 5 youth that are unclear and pull us from the plot and a general lack of interiority. We see the protagonist engaged in a lot of impulsive behavior without any interior processing to pull us into the action. It made the behaviors feel hollow at times.
This is YA from the 70s. No intense scares. More of a vibe.
This novel had a really unique premise involving a bog, water, a trail and the strange feelings it elicits in a select few. It has beautiful descriptions of the East Anglia countryside and a small township. I also appreciated the cool cast of characters. We had a pack of teenagers, a wealthy widow in a mansion, a wise woman in the village and the bog itself (which is its own sort of presence).
Overall, for a short novel, I'd say the pace was slow and the vibes shifted between the focus on the creepy and focus on teenagers navigating a first relationship. We are often caught up in mood swings that come out of nowhere, conversations between 4 or 5 youth that are unclear and pull us from the plot and a general lack of interiority. We see the protagonist engaged in a lot of impulsive behavior without any interior processing to pull us into the action. It made the behaviors feel hollow at times.
This is YA from the 70s. No intense scares. More of a vibe.
June 26, 2024
slow burn fizzled out
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