The Battle For Gullywith

If you don’t know by now, I am sure it will become apparent; I am a big fan of Susan Hill’s books. You will also know that I can be a big fan of some children/young adult fiction, and that I am big on getting kids to read and love nothing more than spoiling my little brother and sister with books. This was originally going to be a book for them (once I had read it to check it was suitable, not that I wanted to read it myself of course) however somehow I doubt it’s going to ever go in the post and I will just have to buy another copy for them.

This is the tale of Olly Brown a boy who is forced to move from his London home to the middle of nowhere (the Lake District) and onto Gullywith Farm. He hates it, he hates the weather, he hates the house, and he hates the creepy stones that seem to be appearing everywhere. When Olly meets KK, a girl who lives nearby, she tells him that many people feel like he does about the house and that very few ever go there, Gullywith it seems has many secrets. In the space of a summer Olly finds himself on an adventure that involves a wonderful bookshop (I wanted it to be real), bats, caves, evil stones, a stone King, the mysterious slightly crazy Nonny Dreever and some very clever tortoises.

I think I empathised with this book in particular as I moved around a lot as a kid and could understand the annoyance and hatred whenever I was moved. I didn’t get to know the characters as well as I would have liked in particular KK’s family as she was so curious and I wanted to know more. However Susan Hill has announced that she will now be writing a sequel and so I am sure I’ll read that and get to know them much better.

If your not a fan of adults reading kids books then I don’t think this review or book with really convert you, if you embrace the reading of young adult fiction then this is a highly enjoyable book that you should be adding to your shelf.