The Graveyard Book, a new fantasy by Neil Gaiman

11 November 2008

Gerard Wood

If pressed to pick one reason why Neil Gaiman stands out from the crowd, it would be this I think: he is one of a select few authors able through their fiction to speak with ease and conviction to adults and children alike. It’s a rare gift to have a voice for all ages.

My introduction to Gaiman was his outstanding adult fantasy American Gods, with its signature blend of fantasy, horror and mythology, and its very loose sequel Anansi Boys, and these remain my favourite Gaiman novels.

The Graveyard Book is written with a beguiling simplicity and a premise that is classic Gaiman. As the novel opens, the protagonist is an adventurous toddler in a middling English town who loses everything one night, name and all, when his family is brutally and, it would seem, senselessly murdered. Somehow the child escapes and makes his way to the local and remarkably ancient graveyard, where he is adopted by the spirits of the dead and acquires both a mysterious undead guardian and a name, Nobody Owens.

Within the overall story arc that traces Nobody's childhood until his coming of age, each chapter is a self-contained story giving us his adventures from year to year, delighting in the possibilities of a child's education at the hands of the dead from all ages. With a young adult readership in mind Gaiman does what he does best, blending fantasy with horror and a good dose of mythology as the mystery of the murder of Nobody's family is unravelled.

Notwithstanding my desire for a new adult fantasy by Gaiman, The Graveyard Book is a highly enjoyable read. If I have one complaint (and this contains a spoiler, so be warned), it is Gaiman’s adoption of the very over-used plot device of the prophecy that comes true only because someone acts to stop it coming true!

But it’s a small complaint and in any case, the novel ends in a way that is very suggestive of an adult fantasy sequel. We can only hope.

The Graveyard Book was published in two formats simultaneously, using two different illustrators. The US edition and a UK edition intended for adults was illustrated by long time Gaiman collaborator Dave McKean; a children’s edition was also published in the UK with illustrations by Chris Riddell. Gaiman also narrates an audiobook version, which I've not yet listened to, although I did have the opportunity to hear him read excerpts from the novel earlier this year and I imagine that the audiobook is very entertaining.

The Witch’s Headstone, a chapter in The Graveyard Book, was published in Gaiman’s 2007 short story collection, M is for Magic, and won the 2008 Locus Award for Best Novelette.

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