Product Description

A novel examining the thin line between fantasy, creativity and madness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272126 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-02
• Binding: Paperback
• 276 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fairy tales are stuffed to the brim with dark woods--dark woods in which dwarves and hermits lurk, trees bleed when struck with an axe and princes and princesses are tested to within a hair's breadth of their lives. When Benedick Hunter finds a book of fairy tales written by his mother he knows there are dark woods within but is unaware of just how dangerous fairy tales can be. In A Dark Wood is his journey to discover his mother's secrets, the truths behind her stories and why she committed suicide when he was still a child. This is also a journey to find out more about himself, his "amorphous moods" and the "stink of failure" that plagues him following a divorce and a long spell of unemployment.

In A Dark Wood unravels through a matrix of fairy tales and half-forgotten memories leading from London in the 1960s to present-day New York and the white verandaed houses of North Carolina (hemmed in, of course, by dark woods). It's Amanda Craig's fourth novel, following the acclaimed A Vicious Circle, which is currently being developed for BBC television. Craig confirms with this novel that she is a voice to listen to, a bold writer who is not frightened to deliver a harrowing read. That said, In A Dark Wood has a lighter side and is shot through with a magical feel--as all good fairy tales should be.--Jane Honey

Daily Express
'A book within a book, a rich plot with plenty of on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense, an abundance of quirky but believable characters, a dual-location setting and even an unexpected twist at the end...an elegant anti-fairy tale for adults.'

Independent on Sunday
'An eerie novel full of fairy-tale menace beguilingly told and hypnotic.'

Customer Reviews

Sad, beautiful and haunting
Darker and more heartbreaking than her other books this fine writer weaves powerful myths and fairy stories through the journey made by the central character, an actor coming to terms with the breakup of his marriage.

Amanda Craig again explores the complex relationship between parents and children, a power struggle, held by love and need on both sides.

Initially the book seems as if this will be its major focus. Benedick, the central character, finds that the world of fairy and myth, as exemplified by his dead mother's book, which he reads to his young son, fractures through into his own life, so that the meaning of the stories seem to be echoed in what is happening to him. As the book continues it becomes clear there is a deeper layer to the story, a dark descent into mental illness, a tragedy that has passed through the generations

Light and Dark
Benedick Hunter is having what at first appears to be a middle-aged crisis. He's an actor who hasn't had any steady work recently. His wife is divorcing him and he bickers constantly with his pompous father. He finds little joy from taking care of his imaginative, but demanding young children. Benedick lives off from the small amount of royalties from his mother's children's books. After rediscovering one of these collection of fairy tales he begins reading the stories for deeper personal meanings. He's compelled to follow a trail of his mother's old friends who are scattered over Britain and America like a trail of breadcrumbs. The mysteries contained in her subversive fables lead him to his mother's childhood home and the truth about his family that has been hidden from him. Gradually he learns that his alienation from society and erratic behaviour has its roots in a mental illness. But he has to descend into the darkest psychological depths in order to learn how to live with this disorder.

In this beautiful and moving novel, Craig manages to write very convincingly about a man's perspective of the world. Benedick's personal aspirations are clouded by despair in a way that prevents him from also appreciating all the loving people he has in his life. Unfortunately, he has also inherited a lot of pain and bitterness from his mother's life, many of the facts of which have been hidden from him. We are also given many funny details about the cultural differences between America and England. What the author also does so extraordinarily well is show a blend of light and dark in this central character's psychology. He does a number of detestable things. Yet we are given insight into them and understand they are acts of desperation brought about through a mental illness he can‘t control. Craig pays tribute to the important and complex work of Angela Carter who was dubbed the Fairy Godmother of British fiction. She does this by insisting that fairy tales have a much deeper meaning than what appears on the surface. The raucous emotions and terrible violence they depict just may be a greater reflection of reality than we care to admit. The psychological demons which hound many people are indeed more terrifying than the creatures who lurk in the dark woods of fairy tales. By blending the story of Benedick’s travels with a number of creative fairy tales, Craig gives us a lot of insight into this while producing an enthralling story.

wonderful! the pace of a thriller, exquisitely written
This is a wonderful, wonderful novel. Not only is it exquistely well-written, it is a kind of detective story that you can't put down. It's about finding your way out of despair and depression - the "dark wood" - into life and hope again. The narrator, Benedick, is an actor and at first so self-pitying and unpleasant that I was nearly put off reading more. Don't be! Because not only do you learn to love him and pity him (and sometimes laugh at him)but what happens to him is amazing. I don't want to give the plot away, but it gets more and more exciting (and creepy) especially once he takes his small son to America with him and discovers why his mother killed herself. Apart from being a wonderful story, this is a novel about stories - about our need for them, and also how they can mislead us. Craig interweaves fairy-stories with the narrative, a little as AS Byatt does in 'Possession'but more interestingly. An enchanting, mesmerising novel. I thoroughly recommend it.