Greenwitch

[sawyl]

Despite not really having much time this week and despite a sudden panicky realisation that I've been neglecting my studies, I've still managed to find time to continue my rediscovery of Susan Cooper by rereading Greenwitch. Here, still fresh in my mind, are a few thoughts:

The Trewissick Grail, recovered by the Drew children the year before, has been stolen from the British Museum. Suspecting that the Dark will try to reunite the cup with the missing manuscript, Merriman Lyon arranges for the Drews to return to Trewissick for a holiday and contrives a way to have Will Stanton on hand. Shortly after their arrival, Barney Drew encounters a crazed painter and a dog is abducted to try to prevent the Old Ones from becoming involved in the greenwitch ceremony.

But the Dark are too late: Jane Drew has already been invited to watch the village women weaving the greenwitch out of hazel, rowan and hawthorn. One the brooding figure is complete, Jane is offered the chance to touch it and make a wish. Rather than wishing for something selfish, like the return of the grail, she instead wishes that the creature could be happy. During the ritual to pitch the figure into the sea off Kemare Head, the Dark painter tries to touch the effigy but he is seen off by the villagers.

Following up on the clue of the missing dog, Barney and Simon find themselves drawn to the painter's gypsy caravan. Once there, the Dark agent reveals that he has the grail and compels Barney to use it to see the future. This prompts Merriman and Will to go and speak with Tethys, a representative of the wild magic, who permits them a single attempt to entreat the greenwitch to surrender up its secret to the Light.

Greenwitch is interesting, in that it merges the rather rational world of Over Sea, Under Stone with the more mystical elements of The Dark is Rising. Although the Drews continue trying to investigate the theft of the grail by following the painter, they actually resolve their puzzle through mystical means: a dream and a vision of the future. Despite having some great mystical set pieces — the decent into the sea to talk to Tethys is quite wonderful — the Old Ones end up becoming physically involved in the struggle, buffeted by the fury of the greenwitch when they try to persuade it to make a judgement between Dark and Light.

Two of the book's great strengths seem to me to be the characters of Will and Jane. Unlike her brothers, Jane sees things clearly and with an unbiased eye, becoming friends with Will whilst her brothers remain standoffish, their amour propre upset by Merry's temerity in inviting another boy to accompany them on holiday. And it is Jane who notices Will's occasional slips which give away his heritage as an Old One.

Will has to walk a difficult path. Some of the time, he has to convince as a child; at others he has to convince as an adult. Generally, this is handled convincingly, so he treats Simon and Barney's aloofness in the way that an adult might, accepting that he has to work with them and that, if he gives them enough time, they will probably come round to his point of view, but also behaves appropriately childishly when surprised.