The Dark Is Rising

[BookWorm45]

For all those like me who loved the Dark Is Rising set of books by Susan Cooper.....

this article talks about a new radio adaptation, coming soon. Can't wait !

www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/03/midwinter-magic-robert-macfarlane-world-service-the-dark-is-rising-susan-cooper-bbc

Off to find my copy now and re-read it......

Another one who has to read each winter. Am sitting with no heating due to a water problem...I think I might get a few candles lit and go and get it, it could add something to the situation!

I really need a copy of The Giant Under the Snow now. (Can lay hands on my Susan Cooper books any time).

I'm so looking forward to reading T D I R shortly. A treat as we head towards the shortest day.
Some years ago, I bought a hardback all-five-in-one with a beautiful cover -but I still remember the paperback covers from the 1970s very fondly.

Yes, what is it about this book that makes it such a pleasure to sink into as the year wanes to the longest night? It's so atmospheric.

@BookWorm45 I have that edition too, but I still very fondly remember the 70s paperback editions of my childhood that I inherited from my older siblings.

Pure joy

Thank you for the reminder. I need to go find my copy now but I think my son may have it. For atmospheric winter stories I'd also shout out for The wolves of willoughby chase and The Box of Delights.
I subject my kids to the BBC adaptation of this latter every year, and book or TV it remains brilliant!

I’ve just bought Over Sea, Under Stone (or the other way round..?). I can’t believe I never read as a child- should I start with that one or is it not necessary?

@Howeverdoyouneedme it is actually really worth reading them in order, it puts everything into context and there are linked characters. I have all 5 in a single volume, which makes reading the whole thing through easier. The Grey King is hands down the best, though also the most bleak.

This sounds good. I am enjoying cararal trilogy at the mo.

It is worth reading Over Sea, Under Stone at least once to get the complete story; however in my view it doesn’t stand up to rereading as well as the others. It’s a simple children’s adventure story, whereas all the other books are far more layered and complex.

Ahhhh I absolutely ADORED this book as a child - the references to the particularly British old ways really spoke to me. Reading it, along with Nigel Slater’s Christmas Chronicles, has become as much a part of my Christmas traditions as making mince pies. Cannot wait for the adaptation.

I’ll read it then, thanks!

I just loved this series when I was a kid.

This is so exciting! Seeing that old cover gave me goosebumps. First books that, well, got me. I whittled myself a magic stick and everything 😀 Ten years later, I was reading English at Oxford. I really, really hope Susan Cooper knew what a wonderful thing she'd done for so many young minds. You've inspired me to look out my old copies and INSIST the DCs read them. Now. Or no pigs in blankets for them.

The first episode is now available on BBC Sounds, although won't be broadcast until tomorrow. I'm going to listen in 'real time' so won't listen to the BBC Sounds episode until tomorrow.

I don't think this has been mentioned on the thread yet but it's been recorded partly in binaural sound, so headphones are recommended to get the full effect.

Ooh lovely, just subscribed to the podcast. I have that "early" edition @stinkingbishop though in rather worse condition than the one pictured - well thumbed!

I am so looking forward to the radio adaptation. I've been through many copies of the books since childhood having read them to death. My youngest son is named after characters from the series.

Oh I LOVED seeing that picture of the paperback - reminded me so strongly.

Also 100% agree to the PP re Box of Delights and Wolves of Willoughby Chase.

This thread is cheering me up incredibly !

Another fan here - subscribed on Sounds. Have read it to both my DCs.

I've just listened to the first episode on my lunch break and got a bit shivery in the work canteen...

Headphones a must, I reckon.

I was really quite disappointed by the first episode unfortunately. The production and narrator are great, but the boy playing Will is just so wooden that it took me out of it completely. There are so many great child actors - surely they could have found someone better?

My favourite was Over Sea Under Stone of that series - I remember the library copy vividly.

My favourite Christmas read and my favourite of the sequence. I will certainly listen to it, so thanks for tip. I really, really wish they’d do a proper film of the book (or even the whole series). We were so lucky having such amazing books to read when we were children. Not only Susan Cooper but Alan Garner, Joan Aiken, Diana Wynne Jones - in addition to all of the amazing authors from the 1940s and 1950s. Did any of you read books by Nicholas Stuart Gray? They were more fairytale-like but I always felt they had the same kind of link to folklore.

I’ve not made it even halfway through the first episode, the narrator has already pissed me off. Perhaps it’s one of those things that just can’t be made right.

I agree re: Over Sea, Under Stone; it's good and everything, but it's a pretty typical kids adventure story. I think The Grey King is probably the best written, but somehow TDiR is midwinter to me. It defines that odd time when the year has declined to its darkest and everything is in stasis before Christmas.