[books 2013] Elidor
66. Elidor by Alan Garner
Four siblings chase a football into a church about to be demolished in post-war Manchester and come out in another world. It's a dying world, and the man that they meet entrusts them with the Treasures of this world for safekeeping, and sends them on their way.
A year later, they are followed into the "real" world by men who wish to ensure the destruction of Elidor.
I really liked this. The pacing is good, and it touches on a lot of issues that would have been relevant to children reading it when it was first published - slum clearance, moving (or, in the case of overspill estates, being moved) to the suburbs, class snobbery, and the fact that in those days adults never listened to children and always assumed they were lying.
Four siblings chase a football into a church about to be demolished in post-war Manchester and come out in another world. It's a dying world, and the man that they meet entrusts them with the Treasures of this world for safekeeping, and sends them on their way.
A year later, they are followed into the "real" world by men who wish to ensure the destruction of Elidor.
I really liked this. The pacing is good, and it touches on a lot of issues that would have been relevant to children reading it when it was first published - slum clearance, moving (or, in the case of overspill estates, being moved) to the suburbs, class snobbery, and the fact that in those days adults never listened to children and always assumed they were lying.