A Castle of Bone by Penelope Farmer (1972)

A Castle of Bone.

Penelope Farmer

Publisher - Puffin - 1972

Paperback - 25p when new (or £1 from a second hand bookshop many years later)

   Well that was a curate's egg.

   At only 154 pages I really should have breezed through A Castle of Bone but I actually staggered and paused in several places and almost gave up on it.  And then I would read a bit more, intrigued by where it was going, and really enjoy the writing for a few pages.  In it conclusion though, I don't think it delivers on its promise. 

   If I was going to be really cruel I would say it's Penelope Farmer having a go at producing something like Garner's The Owl Service and perhaps the publishers even steered her in that direction.  Unfortunately it doesn't feel anywhere near as enigmatic, it just feels inconclusive and disjointed. Its also not giving us anything especially new.

   There is a magic Wardrobe, or rather cupboard, that transforms things, including people.  There's the mysterious elderly shop owner that sold the magical item in full knowledge of what it could do.  And then there is the fantasy land that one of the children visits at night when asleep. Stuff happens at the end as a result of all of this but I'm not quite sure what or why I should care.

   While the fantasy elements were baffling, the real world set up was far more engaging. There were undercurrents of sexual feelings hinted at between two the the teenagers. And a very clear illustration that not everyone is sunny and joyful by nature, and that perhaps that's an OK way to be as well.  I was also really intrigued by Penn's mother, running into Penn's friend Hugh quite a lot.  Although seemingly random it felt like it happened one too many times to be coincidence.  And while Hugh struggles to hide his secrets from her of what they have been up to and where her son is, I felt she was also up to something more. It's an intriguing idea to suggest the adults have their own secret lives away from their children or that perhaps she is drawn to her son's friend in ways she wouldn't dream of addressing directly! Now I could be projecting an interpretation of my own making here but it was certainty more interesting following the human elements of the book than the magical fantasy ones. 

   I've still got Farmer's more famous work; Charlotte Sometimes to read and I enjoyed her writing enough to still want to give it a go at some point.

Steve.