Once, there was a man, and he lived in a place that was dark, and cols, and fierce winters would bite at his heels…
Eren is a monster in the attic. Eren is a storyteller. Eren is a figment of your imagination. Eren is the manifestation of dreams. Eren can make characters come alive. Eren can haunt you anywhere you go. Eren, a dream like monster, who needs stories to survive. Eren, who needs Oliver. Because Oliver has the gift. The gift to weave anything into a story worth listening to. Because Oliver has darkness inside him; because he has a story worth remembering.
As for Oliver, he was rushed into of Coxborough, leaving his London life- and his father behind- to come to his mother's childhood home, with no proper reason whatsoever. With his mother's brother, his wife and two more children in the neighbourhood, he decided he must make the most of it. But, he hears strange sounds from the attic, strange things in his ears when nobody else does and feels chilly breaths in broad daylight. It's Eren. Looking for Oliver.
He's waited many many years for another of his storytellers to come along. He's waited many more years to really explain what stories are to someone.
"It's about you, and the story, and where the two things meet."
Eren was an extremely nice and small book, albeit strange and slow. It honestly took a while to get into, a while for the stories that Simon Clark was spinning to weave their threads around you, but they did, and then, Eren became one of the most enjoyable middle grade books I've ever read.
I would recommend this to anyone looking for a spooky read, without the normal paranormal elements, and to anyone else really, looking to get lost in a story about stories!
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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