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A collection of writings by the author of the 2022 Booker Prize-shortlisted Treacle Walker
In this rich collection of writings, spanning more than twenty years, Alan Garner, the Booker shortlisted author of Treacle Walker, explores his interest in a dazzling range of subjects; from archaeology, myth and language, to education, literature, film, music and philosophy, as well as mental health and our most profound quest for the spiritual.
The Voice That Thunders serves as an early poetic autobiography of one of England's best-loved but least public writers. These essays chart how, after hearing himself declared dead at the age of six, he went on to become the writer he is today: one drawing on the deep well of a rural working-class childhood and one inspired by a family of craftsmen who instilled in him the passion for excellence and innovation and humour that guides him to this day.
Candid and illuminating, The Voice That Thunders is an enchanting collection from one of Britain's greatest living writers.
Praise:
"His work has a symphonic quality unique in fiction," THE TIMES
"The autobiography of one of the most distinct and profound writers we have," GUARDIAN
"A brilliant collection of essays," INDEPENDENT
Alan Garner was born and still lives in Cheshire, an area which has had a profound effect on his writing and provided the seed of many ideas worked out in his books. His fourth book, ‘The Owl Service' brought Alan Garner to everyone's attention. It won two important literary prizes – The Guardian Award and the Carnegie Medal – and was made into a serial by Granada Television. It has established itself as a classic and Alan Garner as a writer of great distinction.
'His work has a symphonic quality unique in fiction' The Times ‘Garner casts light on his writing and thinking, and the role that manic depression plays in his creativity’ Guardian ‘Garner is his own man… taut, powerful and credible’ Penelope Lively ‘A brilliant collection of essays’ Independent ‘A collection of essays and lectures, but since their singular theme is Alan Garner, boy and man, it is, in effect, his Prelude, the autobiography of one of the most distinct and profound writers we have … The Voice that Thunders is his magpie's diary, a confessional from a kleptomaniac of the sacred and the arcane. It is the kind of book which points at worlds it would be wonderful to know – worlds that Alan Garner has spent a lifetime exploring and all of them in his backyard’ Guardian ‘His is a consummate artist's vision that matches landscape and people and story; his is an artist's ear able to hear preliterate song as well as local speech and adolescent slang. With great skill he has wielded these into tales uniquely blending rustic vigour and classical economy of diction. They have won him a place in the company of English writers’ Ralph Elliott, Labrys 7 ‘Alan Garner's themes are huge, urgent, compassionate, his voice distinguished by clarity, compression, precision, depth of feeling and sharpness of thought’ Neil Philip, A Fine Anger: A Critical Introduction to the Work of Alan Garner
