Great news for Garner fans, of which I am assuredly one. HarperCollins announced today that they've acquired "a new collection of previously unpublished work and out-of-print folk tales" by the great man.
The book, which will draw from 1969's The Hamish Hamilton Book of Goblins and 1984's Book of British Folk Tales, as well as never-before-published stories from Garner's archive, will be published as Collected Folk Tales this November.
For those of us who love his work, such a book promises an explication of the hints he's been dropping in his original fiction for years. British mythology, local and general, has formed the basis of Garner's glorious children's books since the publication of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen over half a century ago, providing both the engine that drives them, and the solid, stompable ground on which they're built. The Weirdstone of Brisingamen itself borrows heavily from Celtic, Arthurian and Norse mythology for its overarching plot, but also incorporates the profoundly local legends that are woven around the individual rocks and trees of Garner's own backyard of Alderley Edge, lending it a convincing physicality that makes the magic in it all the more believable. I went for a walk with him on the Edge about a year ago, to mark the 50th anniversary of the book, and the experience was like being given a guided tour by a craggy, grinning genius loci – every stone and corner had a tale attached to it; he talked the thickly wooded hills and hollows into life.
This book, then , promises to be a rare treat. For anyone wondering what to get me for Christmas: here's your answer.
