The Box of Delights -

John Masefield

The Folio Society

2009

272 páginas

9h 4m

ISBN-1: 0

When he boards the train to go home for Christmas, Kay Harker little imagines the adventures that await him. On the platform, he meets an old Punch and Judy man with an Irish terrier who gives Kay the mysterious warning that, ‘The wolves are running.’ He entrusts Kay with a shiny black box with magic powers, which can transport the owner through time and space. Sinister strangers are in pursuit of the box, and behind it all is the wicked wizard Abner Brown. Aided by the Joneses, his gang of young friends, Kay must foil the plot and restore the box to its rightful owner by midnight on Christmas Eve.

The sequel to The Midnight Folk, The Box of Delights is a thrilling adventure in its own right, peopled by mythical beings – from Herne the Hunter with his great antlers to the Lady of the Oak Tree, her sleigh drawn by a team of lions – all mingled with delightfully eccentric humour. Most spellbinding of all is Masefield’s prose, whether he is describing the joys of a Robber Tea, eaten by firelight on the hearthrug, or dancing with the King and Queen of the Fairies ‘to music so beautiful, so moving, that to listen to it was almost too great a joy’. In a new introduction, children’s author Adèle Geras describes the sensations that the book has evoked in her since childhood. Sara Ogilvie’s illustrations are a captivating key to this enchanted world.