Home »
Book recommended for readers aged 10 to 100
Book Review
By Derryll White
Susan Cooper (1965). Over Sea, Under Stone.
This reader always tries to leave himself open to possibility. Last summer I had the occasion to stop by a table on a comfortable open patio attached to the Hot Shots restaurant. It is an excellent place for reading and contemplation, the coffee is great and the smells of fine food certainly enhance books in the Scarpetta or Inspector Montalbano series.
On this particular day, however, a woman was engrossed in her own book which I could see she was enjoying, and I stopped by as I was leaving to inquire as to just what it was – “Silver on the Tree,” the last of Susan Cooper’s ‘The Dark Is Rising Series.’
She was compelling in telling me of the Welsh roots to the stories, the grand Arthurian sweep. Well, being a Thomas Malory fan from a long ways back, I just had to try this young adult fantasy series.
I first read Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur when I was 15, and I was immediately drawn in to the epic tale. Quests, grails, dragons, damsels, knights of the Round Table – who could resist? As I grew older I realized it was also a story of epic personal journey. Then I had the great good fortune to teach a senior literature course that started with Malory and ended with Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. I only wish I had known about Susan Cooper because her work would certainly have fit. It was an exciting exploration we made as a class through time and personal growth.
In this first novel of ‘The Dark Is Rising’ series Cooper clearly focuses on a sense of place, locating her readers in Cornwall, England, or Lognes – Arthur’s ancient name for the same place. She honours the special hard-won knowledge of the Cornish fishermen as well, their sense of mystery and myth which forms local historical memory.
What unfolds is a story of good versus evil, the archetypal story of our human world, the story that embodies both aspects of each of us – love versus hate, fidelity versus betrayal, honour versus deceit – the duality of all human beings. The story unfolds delightfully as a children’s story, not myth but remembrance, not magic but the ultimate power of truth.
This is the story of Arthur of Lognes and the grail. The grail itself tells the story of Arthur and the company of God, of the trials they overcame until the end where evil overcame all. Finally, the grail shows the promise and proof of Arthur of the Pendragon’s return. And hints at Merlin, that most powerful of all mythic English figures.
So the search begins for a new Lognes, as Susan Cooper intimates, with the evil cast out. Under the charge of the three young Drew children – Simon, Barnabas and Jane – the reader, young or old, joins a delightful quest for truth and honour. As in all the best stories the reader journeys through a past made real by the richness of its telling. I recommend this book for all readers aged 10 to 100, and have myself undertaken a quest to locate The Dark Is Rising, the second volume in the series. And to the kind auburn-haired lady who talked to a stranger and shared her enthusiasm, much thanks.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.
