by Alan Garner
First published 2021
Joe Coppock sits reading his comic when he hears the cry: "Ragbone! Ragbone! Any rags! Pots for rags! Donkey stone!" He lifts his eye patch and sees a white pony in the yard pulling a flat cart. On it sits a man in a long coat and floppy hat, his face lined with age, a leather bag across his hip. This is Treacle Walker, a wanderer who has come from the Cheshire moor. Joe lives quietly with his lazy eye, collecting birds' eggs and treasuring his marbles, especially his prized dobbers. But when Treacle Walker arrives, everything changes. The healer draws Joe into an unexpected friendship that opens doors to realms the boy never knew existed. Time itself becomes fluid as myth and folklore weave through their encounters. Joe must navigate this new reality while still trying to understand the ordinary world around him.
Genres: mythology, literary-fiction, fantasy, magical-realism
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Cheshire, Moor
Period: 20th-century
152 pages · Hardcover · Fourth Estate