The Owl Service cover art

The Owl Service

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Owl Service

By: Alan Garner
Narrated by: Wayne Forester
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $16.99

Buy Now for $16.99

About this listen

After hearing scratches in the attic, Alison discovers a dinner service covered in an intriguing floral owl pattern, and a series of events are set in motion that will change her life forever. Alison, her step-brother Roger, and Welsh boy Gwyn are forced into a cyclical replay of the tragic Welsh legend of Blodeuwedd, in which a woman is turned into an owl as a punishment for betraying her husband.

The Owl Service is a fabulous, multi-layered book of mystery and suspense, but also a contemporary musing on love, class structure and power.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2008 Naxos Audiobooks (P)2008 Naxos Audiobooks Action & Adventure Growing Up & Facts of Life Literature & Fiction Mysteries Mystery & Suspense Science Fiction & Fantasy

Critic Reviews

"Garner's remarkable writing is simple and straighforward without one wasted word. He lets the audience figure things out through action and dialogue. Characters are well defined. Experienced narrator Wayne Forester is superb. Not only does he take on the voices of disparate characters with practiced ease, he also manages it so seamlessly and immediately that it seems as though there must be two speakers." (SoundComentary.com)
All stars
Most relevant
I devoured this book in my teens, and re-read it many times. It remains an outstanding example of how to write powerfully with precision and economy. This reading brought out a lot of details and made clear many connections that I didn't notice on my own reading.

Other reviewers mentioned that the audio book was incomplete; this issue appears to have been resolved.

Excellent narration of an old favourite

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
After they find a mysterious set of owl patterned plates hidden in their attic, three 1960s teenagers (two upper middle class English, one working class Welsh) find themselves caught up in a Welsh legend of a fatal love triangle which keeps repeating itself every generation.

Alan Garner is known for his skill in writing realistic characters, dialogue and social situations intertwined with myths come to life.

The narrator is good and knows how to do Welsh accents and pronounce Welsh names.

I really enjoyed it :-)

I really enjoyed this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.