Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

Treacle Walker is a multilayered folklorish tale that blends languages and words. Our young hero, Joseph Coppock, lives alone in an old house reading his comic books, collecting birds' eggs, and playing with marbles. The story opens with the titular character, a rag-and-bone man, passing by with his horse and cart. From there a strange and beguiling friendship blooms that is fantastical, imaginative, and delightfully odd.

This story and its characters practically vibrated with life – and from the beginning I felt such a strange pre-nostalgia for the way Garner tells this story. It only took me a few minutes to connect this with a Jim Henson puppety tale...the vibes are so much like something Henson's Creature Shop would've adapted for the screen in the 80s. A little bit Labyrinth and a little bit something else...this was utterly charming.

Some readers and reviewers have talked about how difficult this one is if English is not your first language — and that makes total sense. Treacle Walker has almost a word scheme of its own, and some have read this with a dictionary at hand, but I was fine without any additional research. The story's mood is strong here — and I was a happy passenger on the ride.

Audiobook, as narrated by Robert Powell: Powell could instruct a masterclass on performing audiobook narration. Period.