Fire and Hemlock is one of my favourite Diana Wynne Jones books.
I can remember borrowing it from the library on one visit, taking it back,
and then borrowing it again a week later. I loved the way that everyday
things became special and the overlapping of the many futures at the end.
Fire and Hemlock tells the story of Polly Whittacker and her friendship with
the musician Thomas Lynn. He encourages Polly to write stories about their
adventures (he as the hero Tan Coul, and Polly as his assistant Hero), which
then have the strange knack of coming (at least partly) true. Running through
the book is a genuine love of reading and mystery. Tom sends Polly parcels
of books at intervals, and I find myself thinking �I�ve got to read that one",
or �I�ve read that and I know exactly what he means�.
All these books help Polly when Tom seems to vanish from her memories and
is only recalled when she is packing to head back to university, four years
after her hidden memories tell her she last saw him. Polly must delve back into
her past to ensure that both she and Tom will have a future.
The first parcel of books contains a note saying
�They were the things that they told me in the book shop
that nobody should grow up without reading.�
These were the books that he sent:
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum,
Five Children and It by E. Nesbit,
The Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit,
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken,
The Box of Delights by John Masefield,
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis,
The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White,
The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith,
Henrietta�s House by Elizabeth Goudge.
The only one of these that I haven�t read is Henrietta�s House, as it�s now out
of print in the UK and I haven�t found an edition I like on Amazon.com yet.
Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at: Bookcrossing
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This page was last updated on 11/01/04 at 00:18 GMT
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