Duncton Wood

by William Horwood

Book Overview

Enter the magical, colourful, poignant world of Bracken and Rebecca, Mandrake the tyrant, Boswell the scribe, Hulver, Comfrey... and all the other moles of Duncton Wood. Set deep in the English... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099443007
• ISBN13: 9780099443001
• Release Date: February 1994
• Publisher: Random House (UK)
• Length: 736 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Perfect Novel Of Everything

"Duncton Wood" is a very difficult book to describe, not because it's not about anything but because it's basically about everything. Adventure, love, hate, destiny, terror, the mechanics of how evil arises both within a society and within an individual, romance, play, disaster, the clash of species, hope, faith, mystery, abyss-deep horror, nature and character. And it's all from the perspective of moles. Not utensil-using, clothes-wearing, machine-building moles, but real, furry, tunnel-burrowing moles. There are a few unorthodox speculations - they know how to use herbs for medicinal purposes, they have stacks of bark chips whose scratches across the surface are the moles's own written history, etc. - but they are not 'little humans in mole form'. Centering around two moles in particular from their infancies onward, Bracken and Rebecca (yes, one of the main themes of this novel is a romance between two moles, and no, it's not remotely a children's book), it nonetheless has an extremely wide and diverse cast - studious, faith-rich, quietly brave scribe-mole Boswell, the devious and unspeakably evil Rune, the small, tender, and enderaingly-nervous Comfrey, the nurturing Rose, and the living darkness that is Mandrake, to name a few. The only novel that equals "Duncton Wood" in array of all-time great characters is "The Gnole". Written with tremendous skill and heart, with surprises and not some but many of the most memorable scenes in the history of the written word, "Duncton Wood" is indispensable for fans of the novel format of storytelling. Total excellence.

life-changing book

There is something unexplainable about Duncton Wood. It is quite simply and purely more "human" than any book I've read that relies on homo sapien characters.These moles can make you cry and laugh and love and hate and so many subtle things in between. You will not be the same after reading this book. It won't make you a "mole lover" or anything silly like that, but it will make you look at life with a certain sense of beauty and mystery that may not have been there before. I rediscovered this book in a used book store 10 years after reading it the first time. I found my eyes watering while i was standing there in the store, just from the flood of memories that came from reading this book about moles.

This is a great story!

I was amazed when I found all these reviews of Duncton Wood! I finished this book so long ago and always loved it so much. The story is superb and it is so incredibly well thought out. I always told myself that when I have a son I will name him Bracken because this book has given that name such power and depth of character. My wife at the time balked at first but now Bracken is 7 years old and starting to read novels. I want to give him his own copy of Duncton wood but since it is out of print(WHY?) I will be glad to give him my much cherished hardback copy that I have kept close by all these years. We have started to read it together and it almost brings me to tears when his eyes light up as he discovers for himself the epic struggles of Bracken and the other Duncton moles! My 5 year old daughter wants to know why we did not name her Rebecca!(her mom put her foot down on that one!) Also I have moles living in and around my place and I just leave them be. Its almost as if they know that I love this book and will not try to get rid of them! I have a feeling that I am not the only Duncton fan that this has happened with. Anyways if you love great well written stories, than this is the book to get (if you can) It has obviously had a great impact on so many peoples lives, mine included. I feel that it has enriched my life and I cant say that about too many books.