The Wolf in the Attic is a strange book. It wants to be fantasy but it also wants to be a historical novel and while it does blur the lines between the two quite well, I'm not entirely sure I'm convinced. The inclusions of Tolkien and Lewis was always going to get my interest but I don't know. I kind of feel like this book might have benefited by Kearney creating a new character that used parts from both of them.

The Wolf in the Attic is categorized as a fantasy, which can be a little misleading. There is a magical creature aspect to the story, but it comes in toward the end of the novel and is not the main focus of the story. Just know going into this read that it's a slow-moving, character-driven story that has some light fantasy elements.

But if that is what you are looking for, I'd recommend this book! Anna, the little girl in the story, is a refugee from Greece to Oxford in the 1920's. I wasn't expecting how dark this story would be. It's defiantly not a light read! It tackles a lot of heavy issues: the immigration experience, bullying, death of a parent, the onset of puberty, loneliness.

I took away a few stars because the pacing was off for me- very slow in the beginning but then a lot of action and a quick resolution at the end. I found myself somewhat bored in the middle of the book.

However, it was beautifully written and I would be interested in reading more from the author in the future.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

I've been trying to get going in this book off and on for several years now. It's time to admit that it just doesn't work for me.

I thought there was a slow start to this story, but later on the action really picked up and I found it more enjoyable. Overall it was a fascinating and cleverly conceived tale, and quite interesting, although it did rather leave me wanting to know more at the end.

"A novel that will enchant readers of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. The fantastical appears in the middle of 1920's Oxford as a young refugee looking to escape her grim reality rubs shoulders with two of the founding fathers of modern fantasy, Tolkien and Lewis.

1920s Oxford: home to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien... and Anna Francis, a young Greek refugee looking to escape the grim reality of her new life. The night they cross paths, none suspect the fantastic world at work around them.

Anna Francis lives in a tall old house with her father and her doll Penelope. She is a refugee, a piece of flotsam washed up in England by the tides of the Great War and the chaos that trailed in its wake. Once upon a time, she had a mother and a brother, and they all lived together in the most beautiful city in the world, by the shores of Homer's wine-dark sea.

But that is all gone now, and only to her doll does she ever speak of it, because her father cannot bear to hear. She sits in the shadows of the tall house and watches the rain on the windows, creating worlds for herself to fill out the loneliness. The house becomes her own little kingdom, an island full of dreams and half-forgotten memories. And then one winter day, she finds an interloper in the topmost, dustiest attic of the house. A boy named Luca with yellow eyes, who is as alone in the world as she is.

That day, she’ll lose everything in her life, and find the only real friend she may ever know."

It's like someone read my brain that time I was watching that awesome episode of Lewis about the literary luminaries of Oxford and turned it into a book!

Fantasy was the first genre that truly captured my attention and fuelled a desire to explore the different mythologies around the world. Is it thus that I ended up annoying my family during a holiday to Greece as I relayed to them some of the more gruesome Greek myths over dinner. Or while walking. Or as they tried to sleep. Basically, I really loved myths and legends and I still do. As such, it is no surprise that The Lord of the Rings became one of my favourite books. It should also come as no surprise that Kearney's The Wolf in the Attic, with its suggestion of Tolkien, Lewis and mythology, captured my attention straightaway. Thanks to Rebellion and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The world is deeply imbued with myth and magic. Each corner of the Earth has a tale, has a history and has a meaning and this is one of the things I love. I voraciously read books that collected these myths, legends and even fairy tales from all across, in a desire to understand humanity because these tales are of us and our desires. These myths and legends have also inspired countless authors who who have gone on to add their own stories to the mix. Kearney aims to capture this magic in The Wolf in the Attic, to draw back the veil of modernity and reveal the Old World beneath the concrete. In a way, The Wolf in the Attic is also an ode to Oxfordshire, and the English countryside as a whole. Kearney really brings to life the magic that lingers in the landscape, as well as the history that has shaped it to be so powerful to the imagination.

Anna Francis is a Greek refugee who grows up in the Oxford of the 1920s, slowly forgetting her home country and yet always feeling other in England. Anna is a great character, spunky and passionate but also aware and mature beyond her age. Both her experiences fleeing her home country and the racism she encounters in her new home make her quite insightful, but Kearney never forgets to also let her be an eleven-year old. The first half or so of the novel focuses on Anna in Oxford and has a distinct 'historical fiction' feel to it. This is also where Tolkien and Lewis feature. Their appearances are entertaining, but only half-relevant to the plot. Were it not for the importance of myth and fantasy to the story, their presence would be a major disturbance. Now, it feels like a nod from an apprentice to a master, a way of saying thank you for what they have created. The second half of the novel enters the territory of myth and fantasy and here, unfortunately, Kearney occasionally loses the thread. Although the retains a fluidity of style and a talent for beautiful imagery, his lore is not as worked out as it should have been. What occasionally makes Tolkien seem so dry is his academic approach to world-building and his hammering on about history. It might not be to everyone's taste, but it's what builds his world so thoroughly. Kearney incorporates a lot of different mythology into his work but they don't come together seamlessly. Also, central to the story are people akin to the Romani and I'm still not entirely sure whether I'm happy about their portrayal or not. I will have to think some more on that.

Kearney's writing is beautiful. He has a knack for describing detail and through Anna's eyes we get to see Oxfordshire in all its glory. Whether it's snow gently falling or Anna's memories of Greece, Kearney makes them evocative and beautiful. He also captures Anna's voice really well and makes her a character you truly come to care for. But, as said above, there is a distinct two act-feel about this novel, with the first part being set in the modern world and the second in the Old. The transition isn't quite as fluid as I'd hoped and there are a lot of things that are left unexplained. In a way The Wolf int the Attic feels like the first novel in a trilogy that leaves the large part of the world building to the second book, which I've seen other reviewers comment on as well. If Kearney had given himself a few more pages of exposition here or there, this would have filled up those gaps nicely and prevented some of the confusion and, I'm sad to say, slight disappointment. In the end, The Wolf in the Attic is a beautiful novel that leaves something to be wished for.

Although I adored Kearney's writing, The Wolf in the Attic could have done with some more background, a deep dive into its subject material. However, it is a beautiful novel about the Old World that occasionally soars very high. I'd recommend this to fans of Fantasy and Historical Fiction.

I've given this 5 stars on Goodreads for its writing, which is lovely, but I do have ambivalent feelings about it. Not enough to stop me recommending it, albeit with caveats - in fact, I'll be interested to see what other people think. One of the reasons I liked it so much is that the author, Paul Kearney, is obviously crazy about mythology, and loves to feel the weight of myth behind everyday life.

Anna, his heroine, is a creature from myth herself, in a way, emerging from the wreck of Greece, her mother killed by Turkish soldiers on the beach in a conflict that seems to reverberate through history (or have I just copy-edited too many books about Turkey?). Anna and her father escape to Oxford where his political activism becomes more and more an act of desperation, driving him to drink and to neglect of Anna. Her only real companion is the doll she brought from Greece, and too poor to find any other pastime, she wanders the streets of the city alone.

It's at this point that one of the things I feel uneasy about happens - Anna meets, and is befriended by, C.S. Lewis. I can entirely see that Kearney admires Lewis immensely, and wants to pay tribute (Tolkien appears too), but the encounters lend very little to the narrative or to the sense of place. It's nice, and young readers may enjoy it, but it's not necessary. Neither man is very important to the rest of the book, except possibly as an ideal of the world of stability and kindness which Anna loses when she is forced to flee for a second time, and alone. On the other hand, I notice that in an interview the author said that he didn't feel he could write about 1920s Oxford without including Lewis. Hmm, well maybe... but I'm not entirely convinced.

[Spoiler alert]

I also wasn't entirely persuaded by Anna's reasoning when she leaves home - why doesn't she go to Lewis? In plot terms, of course she can't, the book would be a novella with an implausibly happy ending. But a real-life Anna? I think she might have done.

Once she's left home, my other problem arises: the second half was marred for me by the depiction of the Romani. When they were revealed to be evil I was acutely uncomfortable; I've spent far too much of my life arguing with people who want to treat any kind of travelling people as pariahs. If the author doesn't share those racist views then I seriously question his choice here. Similarly, the celebration of Englishness and English myth felt just a little too nationalistic, although that may have been simply because I was already becoming uneasy. However, I did very much like the linking of the archetypal characters with the Ridgeway, a landscape rich in legend. Here, Kearney's writing reminded me a little of Mark Chadbourn (Age of Misrule series), although with nothing like the complexity! It may well be that those who liked the latter would enjoy Wolf in the Attic.

So, a recommendation with reservations - unusual for me, since I tend mainly to enthusiastic reviews. Is this a case of good writing marred by doubtful ethics? Or am I being over-sensitive? But this does feel like a book aimed at the younger reader, and if that's your audience, I feel you need to get your politics firmly in order. Nice cover though.

This is a really excellent book. It got me out of a reading slump!