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Alan Garner
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The Owl Service Hardcover – January 1, 1967

by Alain Garner (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 1,123 ratings
Something is scratching around in the attic above Alison's room. Yet the only thing up there is a stack of grimy old plates. Alison and her stepbrother, Roger, discover that the flowery patterns on the plates, when traced onto paper, can be fitted together to create owls-owls that disappear when no one is watching. With each vanished owl, strange events begin to happen around Alison, Roger, and the caretaker's son, Gwyn. As the kids uncover the mystery of the owl service, they become trapped within a local legend, playing out roles in a tragic love story that has repeated itself for generations... a love story that has always ended in disaster.
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  1. Print length
    157 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Collins
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1967
  5. Dimensions
    5.75 x 0.59 x 8.66 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0001846035
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0001846036
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Collins
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 1967
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 157 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0001846035
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0001846036
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.59 x 8.66 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #2,264,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 1,123 ratings

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Alan Garner

Alan Garner

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
1,123 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book enjoyable and well worth trying. The story receives positive feedback for its interesting narrative, with one customer noting how the mythology is skillfully woven into the mysterious plot.

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Story qualityEnjoyment
10 customers mention "Story quality"7 positive3 negative

Customers enjoy the story of the book, finding it interesting and fast-paced, with one customer noting how the mythology is skillfully woven into the mysterious plot.

"...If you would like a good, challenging, moody and engrossing tale, this book is well worth trying." Read more

"...The story is fast-paced, comprising of mostly dialogue, nevertheless Garner manages to maintain a constant menacing, haunting atmosphere for the..." Read more

"...It does have the patented Garner sudden ending - no winding down of the story, no hint of what happens to the characters after the climax...." Read more

"...It is a nice book. Some interesting turns and twists...." Read more

8 customers mention "Enjoyment"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enjoyable and well worth trying, with one mentioning it's a great fantasy story.

"...This has been done well in some children's books, (Nimmo's Magician trilogy and Cooper's Dark is Rising set), but is often less successful in more..." Read more

"...The Owl Service is a phenomenal, low fantasy book, first published in 1967...." Read more

"...Then I was so psyched to see it for sale on Kindle. It is a nice book. Some interesting turns and twists...." Read more

"...intended for children but adults who enjoy fantasy will find it worth their time...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Pop Bop
    5.0 out of 5 stars A little background helps a lot
    Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    If I recall my Mabinogion correctly, Blodeuwedd was the girl made by a wizard from flowers. She was created in order to be the bride of a prince who had been cursed never to marry mortal woman. She conspired with her lover to murder the prince, and as punishment was turned into an owl.

    It is not by accident that the flower pattern on the dinner service can be rearranged to form owls.

    This is the root story behind "The Owl Service", and I think it's helpful to know the tale before reading the book, since it adds a bit of clarification that is otherwise lacking. That said, the book is wonderfully atmospheric, and a faithful adaptation of a classic Welsh tale to a modern setting. This has been done well in some children's books, (Nimmo's Magician trilogy and Cooper's Dark is Rising set), but is often less successful in more adult treatments.

    If you would like a good, challenging, moody and engrossing tale, this book is well worth trying.
    22 people found this helpful
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  • Gwen
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent novel, dated language.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Summary
    Alison, her stepbrother Roger, her mother and stepfather are holidaying in a gorgeous, isolated valley in Wales, a few hours away from Aberystwyth, staying in an old house Alison inherited from her late father. Short-tempered Nancy and her son Gwyn have been hired to work at the house for the family’s stay, as has Huw Halfbacon, (whom Nancy hates) the strange handy-man and gardener who has worked at the house for many years. Alison, Gwyn and Roger, discover a dinner service decorated with a floral owl pattern in the loft of the house. The moment they find it, bizarre things start happening, and the teens become embroiled in the centre of a mystical curse from centuries ago, doomed to repeat the tragic legend of Bloduewedd, Lleu Llaw Gyffes and Gronw Pebr.

    Review – may contain spoilers!
    The Owl Service is a phenomenal, low fantasy book, first published in 1967. I read it for the first time when I was nine or so years old in school and was enraptured by the hair-raising mystery of the book; I went on to read it multiple times afterwards. Almost twenty years later, I ‘rediscovered’ The Owl Service and was not disappointed; I read the book in one sitting, my arms covered in goosebumps from the brooding eeriness of the tale. The story is fast-paced, comprising of mostly dialogue, nevertheless Garner manages to maintain a constant menacing, haunting atmosphere for the majority of the book.

    Alison, Gwyn and Roger do mirror the Mabinogion myth of Bloduewedd, Lleu Llaw Gyffes and Gronw Pebr, though the ‘love-triangle’ between the three was very subtle, being more about society-ranks than romance (though there was a noticeable tension between Alison and Gwyn), but still comparable to the triangle between Bloduewedd, Lleu and Gronw.

    Of all the characters in the book, Gwyn was by far the most fleshed-out and interesting. I did feel somewhat disheartened at the end when he could not give up his jealousy, anger and hatred to save Alison but Roger could.

    The ending of the book was very sudden. Some might find it unsatisfying, and I admit, I didn’t expect it to end so quickly – though Roger managed to save Alison, did they end the curse permanently? Or did they just ‘complete’ their parts in the curse, and the curse will repeat in the next generation, as it has before?

    Regardless of the sudden ending, I enjoyed the book immensely and would recommend others to read it (and read it multiple times, at that!). It is indeed a classic.

    Finally, due to the book’s age, it should be noted that the language is dated. I’m unsure how well a child in 2019 would read and grasp the story due to this.
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Tech journalist
    5.0 out of 5 stars In Alan Garner's modern (1960s) version of the legend of ...
    Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    In Alan Garner's modern (1960s) version of the legend of Blodeuwedd, the girl made of flowers as a wife for Lleu, who has been placed under bonds that he may have no woman as a wife. Gronw Pebr, lord of Penllyn, meets her while hunting, and they agree to kill her husband. However, Lleu's uncle Gwydion, the magician who made the wife from flowers for him, discovers Gronw wounded and returns him to health. They force Gronw to take the same position in which Lleu was killed, but allow him to hide behind a stone; Lleu's spear penetrates the stone and him and he is killed, and Gwydion turns Blodeuwedd into an owl.
    In the novel, this story keeps repeating every generation in its original valley, the three doomed lovers calling up the woman of flowers inexorably, because the power has been "given a thinking mind" and so can only be controlled by the re-enactment of the tragedy.
    However, Garner, perhaps unconsciously, underlay the story with a considerable layer of clichéd notions of Welsh soul and English rationality, with the awfully-awfully English boy coaxing the angry owl goddess that really, she doesn't have to be so awfully cross, in a not altogether convincing ending, a deus ex machina taking the impetus from the Welsh protagonist and putting it into the hands of the incomer.
    Perhaps it is this unconvincingness that gives the novel its power; the reader really doesn't believe it, leaving the angry flower woman with her thinking mind echoing around the story long after it ends.
    10 people found this helpful
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  • Michael Dea
    3.0 out of 5 stars based on welsh myth
    Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2010
    'The Owl Service' is a young adult novel based on Welsh myths, where another generation seems destined to live out a tale of love, murder and revenge. More of a suspense/horror than fantasy; three teens struggle with class and ethnic tensions as well as the normal adolescent angst when the ancient power of the valley begins to take over their lives.
    Although very well written the story is hard to get into, as there is no initial build up, the reader is just dropped into the middle of the plot and expected to fend for himself. This also has the effect of not letting us see the characters in their normal lives before the stress of the situation turns them unsympathetic. The text is almost entirely dialogue, with very little description which hinders the creation of atmosphere. Still it is an impressive book packing a lot of punch in a fairly short story.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Latifah
    5.0 out of 5 stars It's a
    Reviewed in Germany on February 17, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Really good good book
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  • Dingbat
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Owl Service.
    Reviewed in Spain on December 11, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    A small jewel of a book. Times never gone by.
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  • SusannahB
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Intriguing and Unusual Read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Alison is holidaying for the summer in the old family house in a valley in Wales with her mother, her step-father and her step-brother, Roger. Also staying in the house is the housekeeper, who is a local woman and a very superstitious person, and her son, Gwyn, who befriends Alison - much to the displeasure of Alison’s mother who doesn’t want her daughter becoming too friendly with someone of a lower class. When Alison hears some strange sounds coming from the attic above her bedroom, she persuades Gwyn to investigate and he discovers an old, heavily-decorated dinner service patterned in green and gold flowers. Once Alison has cleaned the dust off one of the plates and made a tracing of the pattern, she notices that when she fits the two parts of the design together they make an owl. Strangely, Alison finds herself obsessed with making paper owl after paper owl, and stranger still, the pattern begins to disappear from the china. And then later the plates appear to shatter of their own accord and the plaster begins to fall off one of the walls in the house, revealing an old painting of a beautiful, golden-haired woman covered in flowers. Gwyn’s mother is terrified and warns her son not to dabble with what he doesn’t understand, but when Gwyn talks to Huw Halfbacon, a fey, otherworldly man who has lived in the valley for decades, he learns of an ancient Welsh legend of jealousy and vengeance and of a tragedy that seems to be about to revisit them.

    Alan Garner's 'The Owl Service' is a dark and complex story which is rich in atmosphere of landscape and legend and of how events from the past return to affect those in the present day. As Alison, Gwyn and Roger find themselves re-enacting an old tragedy, they also find tensions of a more personal nature arising between them. With themes of social class, prejudice and cultural identities, Alan Garner’s tale of adolescence and mythology relies heavily on dialogue, which gives the story an energy and a sense of immediacy and which also keeps the reader on their toes as we sometimes have to read between the lines. I first read this as a child and although I was intrigued by it, I’m not sure I really understood it; however I feel I’ve derived more from it by reading it as an adult and was involved and entertained from beginning to end. I'm now looking forward to rereading other titles by Mr Garner, such as: 'The Weird Stone of Brisingamen'; 'The Moon of Gomrath'; and 'Elidor'.

    5 Stars.
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  • Sally Hope
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Owl Service 50th Anniversary Edition Review.
    Reviewed in India on January 23, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    ISBN: 978-0-00-712789-4

    This review is for the product, not the book.

    The paperback is thick with a beautiful mixture of glossy and matte finish.
    The font is clear and large and easily readable without any eye strain.
    The letter spacing is sufficient with enough space for margins.
    The paper “feels” old, but it is just like any other HarperCollins book, actually. This thick, sandy finish is their signature style. The same goes for any Simon & Schuster book, too.
    The retail price is ₹450, and I had to pay ₹390. A good deal.
    Book was delivered a day before the date specified. Seller was u-store.

    Overall, excellent service. Extremely satisfied.
    Customer image
    Sally Hope
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    The Owl Service 50th Anniversary Edition Review.

    Reviewed in India on January 23, 2020
    ISBN: 978-0-00-712789-4

    This review is for the product, not the book.

    The paperback is thick with a beautiful mixture of glossy and matte finish.
    The font is clear and large and easily readable without any eye strain.
    The letter spacing is sufficient with enough space for margins.
    The paper “feels” old, but it is just like any other HarperCollins book, actually. This thick, sandy finish is their signature style. The same goes for any Simon & Schuster book, too.
    The retail price is ₹450, and I had to pay ₹390. A good deal.
    Book was delivered a day before the date specified. Seller was u-store.

    Overall, excellent service. Extremely satisfied.
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  • Cliente Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Very satisfied
    Reviewed in Italy on May 10, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    The package arrived without damage and on poin within the established time. The edition of the book is really beautiful!
    Report