The Owl Service

Alan Garner
3.66
7,891 ratings 836 reviews
Something is scratching around in the attic above Alison's room. Yet the only thing up there is a stack of grimy old plates. Alison and her stepbrother, Roger, discover that the flowery patterns on the plates, when traced onto paper, can be fitted together to create owls-owls that disappear when no one is watching. With each vanished owl, strange events begin to happen around Alison, Roger, and the caretaker's son, Gwyn. As the kids uncover the mystery of the owl service, they become trapped within a local legend, playing out roles in a tragic love story that has repeated itself for generations... a love story that has always ended in disaster.
Genres: FantasyFictionYoung AdultChildrensMythologyClassicsMiddle GradeMysteryFolkloreBritish Literature
219 Pages

Community Reviews:

5 star
2090 (26%)
4 star
2498 (32%)
3 star
2145 (27%)
2 star
864 (11%)
1 star
294 (4%)

Readers also enjoyed

Other books by Alan Garner

Lists with this book

Ella Enchanted
The Goose Girl
The Princess Bride
The Best Fairytales and Retellings
2778 books9158 voters
Here Be Dragons
Falls the Shadow
The Reckoning
Books Set in Wales
321 books196 voters
Harvest Home
Collected Ghost Stories
The White People and Other Weird Stories
Folk Horror
332 books151 voters
The Chronicles of Narnia
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Best Children's Fantasy
951 books1103 voters