Jump to content

Thursbitch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thursbitch
First edition cover
AuthorAlan Garner
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy novel
PublisherThe Harvill Press
Publication date
October 2003
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages160 p. (hardback edition)
ISBN1-84343-087-8 (hardback edition)
OCLC52622302
823/.914 22
LC ClassPR6057.A66 T49 2003

Thursbitch is a novel by English writer Alan Garner, named after the valley in the Pennines of England where the action occurs (also listed in the 1841 OS map as "Thursbatch"). It was published in 2003.

Plot

[edit]

Set both in the 18th century and the present day, the novel centres on the mystery of an inscription on an extant engraved wayside stone tablet about a death from exposure.

Major themes

[edit]

The book features shamanic use of the fly agaric mushroom[1] and a piece of Derbyshire Blue John as plot elements.

Literary significance and criticism

[edit]

The book is seen by critics[who?] of Garner's work as a continuation of styles and structures first used in Red Shift (1973) and Strandloper (1996).

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Letcher, Andy (2006). Shroom: A Cultural history of the magic mushroom. London: Faber and Faber. p. 129. ISBN 0-571-22770-8.