A review by caroparr
Elidor by Alan Garner

4.0

I must have read this battered Puffin paperback back in library school but admit that I didn't remember much about it. Two strengths for me, first, that it is a short fantasy, no longer than it needs to be, and second, that it is original (despite being based on ancient legends) in that the children do not live in this other world, go on a quest there, and otherwise do what every other child does in a fantasy world. Instead, they get only glimpses of the other world, until in the end, even the unbeliever among them has to admit that it really existed. The scenes with the unicorn rattling around in the side streets of Manchester is unforgettable. And in the end, "The children were alone with the broken windows of a slum."