I don’t often mention books that I love.
It’s not because I don’t love books; I do. It’s just that I take it for granted that people know I love books and reading. People who don’t enjoy reading confuse me.
This series is one of my favourites. I think I first read them in my early teens. My mum brought me the second book in the series, The Dark Is Rising itself, from the library one day while I was sick. I devoured it and then went in search of the rest of the books. I read them in the wrong order and struggled to get the first book at all because my local library’s copy was in such poor nick that it had been archived. I had to ask for it separately.
I have now got a nice boxed set of these books that I can read anytime I want. I’m currently re-reading them, starting with the first book. They may be aimed at young adults, but they are still just as fantastic as they were the first time I read them. I can’t help thinking how much these books have influenced my life. I know they left me with a love for all things Celtic. Reading Over Sea, Under Stone now, I realise that the picture of Cornwall Susan Cooper’s words painted in my mind was not at all incorrect. I have been to Cornwall a couple of times as an adult, and it really is that wonderful.
Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising series.