hedgehog

The Winter of Enchantment or Where is Victoria Walker?

It has to be said that I don't really care where she is so much, as why she has stopped writing. In 1969, at the age of 21, she wrote a wonderful novel called The Winter of Enchantment. It is about a young boy, Sebastian, who, with the aid of a winking teapot, a magic mirror, and a cat who's swallowed a magic fish, rescues a girl from a hundred-year-long captivity and defeats the evil Enchanter.

The first I heard of this author was when I started hanging out at abebooks.com and abebooks.co.uk. There was a spirited discussion on the Booksleuth Forum about the book. That's great fun, BTW. If there's a book you loved, but the title and the author's name have escaped you, you can ask for help in the forum by giving as much info as possible. Example: "India. Repressed woman. Trip to caves. Trial". If all goes well, one or more helpful types will (virtually) jump up and down shouting, "A passage to India! A passage to India!".

Anyway, let us return to our muttons. It transpires that both The Winter of Enchantment and the sequel, A House Called Hadlows are out of print. There are only about six copies in private hands according to one poster.

I decided to try my library. Nothing in my branch, but Tunbridge Wells had a copy. I reserved it. It came. I read it. I LOVED it. A House Called Hadlows was at another library and I tried to reserve it. Alas, this library is out in the wilds of rural Kent where computers are unknown (they're still using those cardboard tickets and a stamp). The book could not be found. A copy can command about £450!!!!!!!!!! I told the librarian the good (or bad) news, and suggested that maybe they would like to take steps to make sure that The Winter of Enchantment does not do a disappearing act.

Write Neil Gaiman has taken up the trail as well. Check out the relevant entries at his site.

# posted by : 11:43 PM