The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy

Penelope Lively has had a successful career as both an adult novelist and a writer for children, in fact I think she used to write books for adults and children alternately. I've enjoyed her adult novels but personally I think her books for children are superior. (She is still with us, aged 90.)

The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy, published in 1971, has echoes of Alan Garner's The Owl Service: a local boy, made an outsider by education, stirring uncomfortably beneath the weight of expectations that he'll take up a family responsibility (in this case, becoming the local smith and implicitly, the ancient, sacred role that also involves), a hot summer, a girl from outside the community who is drawn to the boy, and people messing with deep powers they no longer understand. The Wild Hunt centres on younger children than The Owl Service, and doesn't include the undercurrent of adolescent hormones in the earlier book, but it conjures up a similar oppressive atmosphere and tension, as the Hagworthy Dance is revived and the local boys become a pack, almost possessed by ancient forces.

Penelope Lively and Alan Garner, and perhaps Lucy M Boston, all wrote quite a few books in the 1970s (perfect timing for child reader me) that explored English folklore and ancient traditions, books that enthralled me. I was inspired to re-read Wild Hunt after reading about the wild hunt in Dogsbody (1975), but I was thrilled to see that Yeff, the wild hound in Dogsbody, is named for the Yeff Hounds of Somerset. Another coincidence -- I've started reading The Salt Path, which is set in the same part of the world; Ray and Moth's long walk begins in Minehead, the big town closest to fictional Hagworthy. I never tire of the way that these threads dart between different books, connecting them in unexpected ways.