"...A rare imaginative feat and the taste that it leaves is haunting." The Observer

"Alan Garner's The Owl Service is not meant only for children or anyone else; it's a novel; and not many better novels will be published this year... The power grows, throbs nearer, builds to unbearable tension, and comes to wild release in the last few pages."The Guardian

It all begins with the scratching in the ceiling.From the moment Alison discovers the dinner service in the attic, with its curious pattern of floral owls, a chain of events is set in progress that is to affect everybody's lives.

Something old and powerful is stirring in the Welsh valley.Alison, Roger and Gwyn can all feel it, but only Huw seems to understand it. Inevitably, forces from the past overwhelm the present.Will any of them be strong enough to forestall the fate that threatens？2007 is the 40th Anniversary of the publication of this classic award-winning novel.