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Treacle Walker

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( 9,241 ratings, 1,680 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner is a captivating exploration of time, consciousness, and healing. It follows the intertwining lives of a young boy named Joe and a mysterious wandering healer, Treacle Walker. Set in a world that blurs the boundaries between reality and myth, the narrative delves into themes of identity and transformation.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy a blend of myth and reality, with rich, symbolic narration that invites you to explore the mystical and philosophical. It's a journey through a boy's imaginative world, offering a deep dive into themes of time, healing, and identity, perfect for those who appreciate lyrical storytelling in their general fiction.

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‘Playful, moving and wholly remarkable’ Guardian ‘A small miracle’ New Statesman ‘Mastery of craft, resonance and deep feeling on every page’ Telegraph

Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and a Guardian Best Fiction Book of 2021

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

‘Playful, moving and wholly remarkable’ Guardian
‘A small miracle’ New Statesman
‘Mastery of craft, resonance and deep feeling on every page’ Telegraph

An introspective young boy, Joseph Coppock squints at the world with his lazy eye. Living alone in an old house, he reads comics, collects birds’ eggs and plays with his marbles. When, one day, a rag-and-bone man called Treacle Walker appears, exchanging an empty jar of a cure-all medicine and a donkey stone for a pair of Joseph's pyjamas and a lamb's shoulder blade, a mysterious friendship develops between them.

A fusion of myth, magic and the stories we make for ourselves, Treacle Walker is an extraordinary novel from one of our greatest living writers.

‘All the exuberance and eccentricity, all the deep thought and resounding mythology of [Garner’s] best work’ Observer

‘Spare and allusive… luminous and understated’ Rowan Williams, New Statesman

‘Cryptic, evocative, sparely told and deceptively simple’ Carolyne Larrington, TLS

A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR • A TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR • A GUARDIAN BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2021

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The book by Alan Garner has been hailed as a small miracle and a mesmeric folktale, noted for its mastery of craft and deep feeling. Critics describe it as a luminous, hypnotic wonder filled with real magic, balancing spare, allusive prose with profound themes of seeing and healing. Its circular narrative style and echoes of Garner's earlier works showcase exuberance, eccentricity, and resounding mythology.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780008477806

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 August 2022

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Fourth Estate Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 10.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 140g

Pages: 160

About the Author

Alan Garner was born and still lives in Cheshire, an area which has had a profound effect on his writing and provided the seed of many ideas worked out in his books. His fourth book, ‘The Owl Service' brought Alan Garner to everyone's attention. It won two important literary prizes – The Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal – and was made into a serial by Granada Television. It has established itself as a classic and Alan Garner as a writer of great distinction.

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