Marlfox by Brian Jacques Hutchinson 386pp, £12.99 in UK.
There was a story which used to haunt the corridors of William Collins & Sons about the editor who rejected Watership Down - "Who wants to read a book about rabbits?" Talking animals have long been a staple of children's literature. Alone or in the company of human characters, they are ubiquitous in pre-reader storybooks, folklore, myth, fairy tales and wildlife fiction. More recently they have featured in the fantasy genre which attracts both a young and older audience. Certainly there is nothing in Brian Jacques' Redwall series which would exclude an adult reader.
Marlfox is number fourteen in the series which presents the epic of the venerable Redwall Abbey and the host of anthropomorphic animals who live in and around its walls. The book tells of an attack on the Abbey by evil foxes with their water rat, ferret and raven allies. On the defence are squirrels, badgers, moles, hares and hedgehogs. When the great tapestry of Martin the Warrior (a mouse) is stolen away to a secret island, four young heroes set forth to retrieve it.
It is to the author's credit that the book stands alone, though one is always aware of a previous and extensive history. Jacques' storytelling style is eccentric and unique and, as with all things original, takes some time to get used to. He describes himself as an old-fashioned romantic in writing and there is a classical Victorian flavour to his prose. It is very rich in description and dialogue, with a pace that can move as slowly as a dander through the countryside. The narrative is peppered with ballads and poems, some of which enhance the story, while others are more of an interruption. The overwhelming number of characters with a baffling number of names is difficult to keep track of, but the central group are so strongly depicted they hold their own in the multitudinous fray.
Amongst the many appealing traits of Jacques' work are his knowledge of herb-lore - a poultice of dockleaf, motherwort and pond mud for bee-sting - and his descriptions of food such as hazelnut and elderberry pudding brushed with a mixture of greensap milk and honey.
As befits the animal kingdom, his female characters are as strong and powerful as the males. Speech is always in dialect from various parts of England and includes words such as "duff" and "chunnering" (the latter not to be found in Collins English dictionary) with the odd Irish and Scottish accent added for good measure.
Despite the slow start, which may not affect readers of previous volumes, one is eventually and inevitably captured by Jacques' magic. "Somewhere off in the woodland a long nightjar warbled, while a warm breeze stirred sedge and rye grasses at the ditch top. It was a perfect night for an ambush."
G.V. Whelan is an Irish-Canadian novelist, screenwriter and critic; her books for young adults are published under the name Orla Melling