Bittercon: "Forgotten Treasures"

[intertext]

What I think of as the "Harry Potter Effect" - a renewed interest in YA or children's fantasy - has resulted in the welcome recent republication of authors who had been well-known in certain circles, like DWJ, or well-known from the past, like Edward Eager. It has also seen the reprinting of some rather more obscure but equally deserving works, like A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond or Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard. I've been thinking for a while of beginning a series of posts on old forgotten treasures from my own collection - not necessarily SF or fantasy, but books I loved that I wondered if anyone else had heard of, that I think deserve a bigger audience and potential reprinting. So, I thought I'd launch that series here, and invite others on my flist or from the bigger bittercon community, to link comments to posts about their own forgotten but deserving treasures.

My first oldy but goody is Ellen Kindt McKenzie's
Drujienna's Harp, which begins on a day in an unnamed city in what seems to be our world - indeed I've always assumed it was San Franciso. It is uncharacteristically hot, and the sky is a strange translucent pink. Tha and her brother Duncan visit a curio shop and pick up a bottle that the shop-owner warns them has a curse on it. They are instantly transported to another world.

Of relevance to one of sartorias's panel topics on world building, this is one of the most distinct and well developed worlds I remember encountering in children's fantasy. It has almost a quality of the surreal, with its pink sky, killing winds, geographic areas spreading out in concentric circles from a mysterious and deadly mound in the center. It is also unusual in children's fantasy for its bleak picture of political totalitarianism. The inhabitants are kept in a kind of controlled state of unknowing; asking too many questions is punishable by imprisonment or death. Yet there are mysterious Histories and a Prophecy, suppressed but not forgotten, that hint of "two" who will come and put the world right - or destroy it. This book deals with many extremely serious and important themes: ignorance, real or feigned, the importance not so much of physical courage but of moral convictions. Tha is a strong and believable heroine and there is a cast of well-drawn supporting characters, from the morose Eshone and even more grim Acheron to the delightful "Know-nothing" Zacapoos.

Like Victoria Walker's equally obscure but not entirely forgotten work, The Winter of Enchantment, this fascinating novel is now listed on ABE with absurdly high prices. I used to borrow it time and again from the library, and managed to snag a copy a few years ago at a less than astronomical price, and I treasure it. Just writing about it now makes me think I should reread it again - I suspect it will not have lost its magic.

So now it's your turn! How many of you have read any of the books I mention, especially this one? What are your own forgotten treasures? And don't forget to write a review of your favourite and link it here.

Comments

[gillo]

This sounds intriguing but is totally new to me.

One I adored when I borrowed it repeatedly from the library as a child was "Merlin's Magic" by Helen Clare (aka Pauline Clarke of "The Twelve and the Genii" fame). It was based on the intriguing idea that a number of gold tokens were spread through time and literary space and a group of children had to recover them. The one that sticks most in my mind is the boy who had to go to Xanadu and recover a token from Kubilai Khan and then escape via Alph the sacred river through the sunless sea. Long before I knew the poem the imagery had a powerful impact on me. I've not been able to find it on Abe even!

[intertext.livejournal.com]

Wow - that sounds interesting, and is - I think - new to me, though the title rings a faint bell. I know Pauline Clarke, but had no idea she wrote under another name!

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I adored that book at Primary School, read and re-read the library copy, and have never been able to recall either author or title (a shameful confession for an ex-librarian.)

[gillo]

Hi Maggie - fancy seeing you here! I was haunted by that book and tried to track down details a few years back - I've never found a copy on sale anywhere, though.

Merlin's Magic

[(Anonymous)]

I tried to borrow this from Essex Library but all they could find was a reference copy at the British Library, St Pancras. It was published twice - once by Bodley Head in 1953 and about 10 years later by Big Reindeer Books. Is it possible it's fallen through the cracks between the two publishers?