This week, we finally managed to install our new (not new ) item of furniture - a mid-18th Century grandfather clock. It's not bright and shiny like more modern ones, but a dark oak with a warm patina which the beeswax polish is drawing out. In order to set it up, we had to do a certain amount of research - how to hang the pendulum, where the weight went on the endless chain - and it got me thinking... where and when did certain divisions of time come from? The time periods which I have written either had household clocks or didn't, I have not written novels from the time of their invention. Clocks have been around for a long time, and the obsession with measuring time in an ordered fashion dates back to at least the ancient Sumerians. It was they who established a circular reading of time and, I imagine, the sixty seconds/minutes came about as much because it was an easy way to divide a circle as anything else. But it wasn't until much later that the precision of seconds ...
Today was supposed to be a book review day, but with everything that is currently needing attention, I haven't got round to reading my backlist yet and, rather than skim read one of the books, I would rather do it the credit of giving my full attention.
So, I thought, that I would introduce my favourite book from when I was little.
The Moon of Gomrath is a fantasy adventure, which I partially credit with my love of the genre. It is heavily woven with myths and legends from rural England and, while I grew up many miles away from Alderley Edge where the book is set, I could imagine the story happening close to where I lived in another corner of the English countryside.
The book is actually the sequel to The Weirdstone of Brisingamen but I read them out of sync, and it didn't matter. Sure, there were parts that made more sense once I'd read the first book, but I managed well enough. The first book is great, too, but I don't have the same attachment to it.
There are mythical races like elves, and strong link with the Arthurian legends without the need to bring King Arthur back from the dead, and magic... so much magic. What's not to love?
If anyone's looking for a gripping adventure, you can't go wrong with this book!
*** This blog comes with a caveat. Don't read the third book in the series which was written many years later for adults, and is akin to Andrew Lloyd Webber writing a rubbish sequel to Phantom of the Opera.
Alan Garner... it is amazing how all of that masterful worldbuilding can come crashing down so easily. My advice is to do what most readers of the first two books did, and pretend the third doesn't exist. ***
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