Silver on the Tree

'The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world' Newbery Honour Book In the concluding novel in The Dark is Rising sequence, the six allies of the Light – Merriman Lyon, Will Stanton, Bran Davies and the three Drew children – are called together for a final, decisive adventure. Their quest begins in the Welsh mountains, and takes them to the Lost Lands in search of the crystal sword, the final talisman they need to marshal their forces against the Dark, as personified by the Black Rider. But victory – if they achieve it – will come at a price, with hard choices and divided loyalties. Silver on the Tree ties up all the threads of the previous stories in a triumphant finale. Stirring fantasy is mingled with realistic portrayals of family ties and friendships formed under pressure, like the bond between Will and Bran, and Bran’s own discoveries about his parents. In her preface, Susan Cooper describes the relation between the novels in the series: 'I’ve always thought of these five as the movements of a symphony. Each has its own sound, mood or tempo, but they belong together; they are parts of a whole, written, as it were, in the same key.' The sequence is notable for being honoured twice by the Newbery awards - America’s most prestigious prize for children’s literature.