New York Times Notable Book and Whitbread Award Winner: Tales of two boys’ adventures in the English countryside from “an exquisite storyteller” (The Seattle Times).
The barren, beautiful Cumbrian fells provide the bewitching setting for the adventures of Bell and Harry, two children who find enchanting wonder at every turn as they explore the area that Bell’s grandfather calls the hollow land. There are ancient mysteries to explore and uncover, like the case of the Egg Witch, and everyone is curious about the Household Name, a wildly famous Londoner moving into the jewel of the territory, Light Trees Farm. With painterly ease, Jane Gardam’s linked stories are “a buoyant collection” to please old fans and new (Kirkus Reviews).
“Like Mark Twain’s depictions of youth, Gardam demonstrates that the enduring lessons of boyhood and lifelong friendship can delight readers of any age.” —Publishers Weekly
“Gardam will bring immense pleasure to readers who treasure fiction that is intelligent, witty, sophisticated.” —The Washington Post
Jane Gardam is the only writer to have been twice awarded the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel of the Year. She is winner of the David Higham Prize and the Royal Society for Literature’s Winifred Holtby Prize, the Katherine Mansfield Prize, and the Silver Pen Award from PEN. Her novels include:God on the Rocks, shortlisted for the Booker Prize; A Long Way From Verona; Crusoe’s Daughter; and the Old Filth trilogy: Old Filth, finalist for the Orange Prize; The Man in the Wooden Hat, finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize; and Last Friends, finalist for the Folio Award. She lives in the south of England near the sea.