Hardcover, 252 pages
English language
Published September 1984 by Victor Gollancz.
- ISBN:
- 978-0-575-03496-9
- OCLC Number:
- 11555788
- ASIN:
- 0575034963
- Goodreads:
- 921218
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Ryhope Wood, in a remote corner of Herefordshire, is a forgotten remnant of ancient woodland: three square miles of post-Ice Age forest, untouched and unexplored. So dense is the woodland that it seems impossible to pass beyond its perimeter.
The Huxley family live close to Ryhope Wood, and for George Huxley its exploration becomes an obsession, leading him to neglect his wife (who commits suicide) and children. After his death in 1946, his two sons, Christian and Steven, meet again at Ryhope, where the bizarre truth about the wood gradually becomes apparent. In this corner of ancient England it appears that the human racial unconscious can somehow bring into existence the people of myth and legend. Confined to the woodland, glimpsed occasionally at its edge, they include some figures familiar in folklore, but many others now forgotten, ancient and powerful. When the brothers eventually penetrate into the heart of Ryhope …
Ryhope Wood, in a remote corner of Herefordshire, is a forgotten remnant of ancient woodland: three square miles of post-Ice Age forest, untouched and unexplored. So dense is the woodland that it seems impossible to pass beyond its perimeter.
The Huxley family live close to Ryhope Wood, and for George Huxley its exploration becomes an obsession, leading him to neglect his wife (who commits suicide) and children. After his death in 1946, his two sons, Christian and Steven, meet again at Ryhope, where the bizarre truth about the wood gradually becomes apparent. In this corner of ancient England it appears that the human racial unconscious can somehow bring into existence the people of myth and legend. Confined to the woodland, glimpsed occasionally at its edge, they include some figures familiar in folklore, but many others now forgotten, ancient and powerful. When the brothers eventually penetrate into the heart of Ryhope Wood, they find there a perilous world far more strange than anything they could have imagined.
Mythago Wood is a remarkable and utterly original fantasy. The short story on which it is based won the British SF Award and was runner-up for the World Fantasy Award. Now it emerges as by far Robert Holdstock's best novel to date, a book which establishes him among our most talented and imaginative fantasists.