book review: treacle walker by alan garner

Treacle Walker is a short novel by Alan Garner, the English author of esteemed novels such as Elidor, The Owl Service and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, and is a blend of folklore, magic and myth, exploring time and the nature of reality.

Joseph (Joe) Coppock is a boy who lives alone in an old house. From the house, Joe marks the passing of time by watching trains pass, and reads comics, collects bird’s eggs and plays with marbles. Joe is recovering from an illness and wears a patch to correct a lazy eye.
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Into Joe’s lonely life comes rag-and-bone man Treacle Walker. Treacle Walker trades a cure-all medicine and a donkey stone for a pair of Joe’s pyjamas and a lamb’s shoulder blade. Treacle Walker himself is an almost shamanic figure and is once referred to as a psychopomp, a guide for nearly deceased souls. The story develops through the friendship between Joe and Treacle Walker, and their interactions with Thin Amren, a mysterious figure with shades of Tollund Man and Lindow Man. 

Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

Set in a Cheshire landscape infused with meaning, the style of the novel is spare and taut, with a sense of every word being chosen with immense care, and at times the book felt to me more akin to poetry. Magic permeates the story, digging deeply into folklore. There are shifts in time, with the appearance of a doppelganger an especially unsettling moment. Garner moves away from conventional narrative, for example the dazzling, dizzying scenes when Joe enters a mirror-world of comic books, fighting foes alongside Kit the Ancient, fusing the modern medium of comic books with myth.
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Treacle Walker is an allusive, challenging read, one that is not easy to categorise but I feel this intense novel carries real power and brims with energy and imagination. Treacle Walker would, I’m sure, reward repeat reading to tease out some of the details and it is a novel to which I’m sure I’ll return.