Many years ago I wrote a review for The Dark is Rising which is the 2nd book in the sequence of the same name by Susan Cooper. This book is the first in the sequence but as I recommended then often better to be read second.
I reread this on a recent holiday to Cornwall because in visiting the Cornish fishing villages/towns I immediately felt that sense of place I have with this book. If The Dark is Rising is a book that takes you back to a specific time (if you’re around my age and grew up in England) then this book is so much about a place, and that place is still found now.
The story is about a family with 3 children – Simon, Jane, and Barney – who travel to spend a holiday in Cornwall with their great uncle Merry (Merriman Lyon from The Dark is Rising). Whilst there they become embroiled in a treasure hunt searching for an object hidden in the time of King Arthur. Yes, it’s a grail quest! They are set upon by the same forces of dark as in the rest of the series, facing danger as they search for clues hidden in the landscape around the village in which they stay.
It’s the village and descriptions of the locations that made me reread this book – whilst Trewissick is not a real place it takes a lot of detail from Mevagissey and surrounding areas, but also hints of other coastal villages and landscapes of Cornwall. The description of dipping down a hill to a fishing harbour with the road then climbing out the other side, painted cottages clinging to the hills on both sides, and wild headlands with standing stones. It is the heart of Cornwall that you still find today and so whilst some aspects feel dated in dialogue and behaviour it’s still a readable book.
I find that sense of place reminiscent of Swallows & Amazons which combines Windermere & Coniston in the Lake District in a similar way and so tends to be a reread when I head there for a break. I’d recommend both series to anyone wanting to cast themselves back into a simpler read that may feel quaint but still work as an adventure