''Treacle Walker'' is a book by
Alan Garner published on October 28, 2021 by
HarperCollins.
Plot
The story is about a young boy Joseph Coppock who squints at the world with his lazy eyes. He lives alone in his old house. He plays with his marbles, collects birds' eggs and reads comics.
One day, rag-and-bone man Treacle Walker appears who was exchanging donkey stone and an empty jar of all disease medicine for lamb's shoulder blades and a pair of Coppock's pajamas then, a mysterious friendship develops between them.
Awards
* Shortlisted for
2022 Booker Prize
The 2022 Booker Prize was a literary award given for the best English novel of the year. It was announced on 17 October 2022, during a ceremony hosted by Sophie Duker at the Roundhouse in London. The longlist was announced on 26 July 2022. The s ...
* Shortlisted for
British Fantasy Award for Best Novella
Critical reception
Sam Leith
Sam Leith (born 1 January 1974) is an English author, journalist and literary editor of ''The Spectator''.
After an education at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, Leith worked at the revived satirical magazine ''Punch'', before moving to the ' ...
of ''
The Daily Telegraph'' gave it five out of five ratings, Anna Robinson of
''The Conversation'' named it "best fiction of 2022", Shubhangi Tiwari of
Scroll.in
''Scroll.in'', simply referred to as ''Scroll'', is an Indian digital news publication owned by the Scroll Media Incorporation. It publishes content in both Hindi and English languages. Founded in 2014, the website and its journalists have won ...
wrote: "''Treacle Walker'' is a book as endearing as it is awe-inspiring, and a testament not only to the wisdom of age, but also to the power of attuning the novel to a space of possibility over truth." and Pauline Kim of ''
The Michigan Daily'' wrote: "Alan Garner's ''Treacle Walker'' might just be the strangest book I've ever read.".
The book has been also reviewed by Susie Goldsbrough of ''
The Times'', Max Liu of
''i'', Justine Jordan of ''
The Guardian'', Maureen Kincaid Speller of ''
Strange Horizons'', Alyssa Woo of ''
The Straits Times'', Alex Preston of ''
The Guardian'', Karthik Keramalu of ''
The New Indian Express'', Carolyne Larrington of ''
The Times Literary Supplement'', Simon Demetriou of ''
Cyprus Mail'' and Felix Taylor of ''
Literary Review''.
[{{Cite web , last=Taylor , first=Felix , title=Felix Taylor - Like a Rolling Stone , url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/like-a-rolling-stone , access-date=2023-01-19 , website= Literary Review , language=en , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119124649/https://literaryreview.co.uk/like-a-rolling-stone , archive-date=2023-01-19 , url-status=live]
References
2021 British novels
Novels by Alan Garner
HarperCollins books