Book Fourteen
Introduction by Robbie
Why The Dark is Rising
Robbie introduces the reading · TBC
The Dark is Rising was the fourteenth book in the reading sequence, read over the Christmas period from December 2025 into January 2026. Susan Cooper's fantasy novel — the second in her sequence of the same name — is set at midwinter, which made the timing perfect. A Christmas book read at Christmas.
The chapters are named by title rather than number — “Christmas Eve,” “The King of Fire and Water” — giving the novel a distinctive rhythm that suits reading aloud. This was a departure from the Victorian novels and Russian classics that had dominated the reading list, and a move towards something mythic and English in a different way.
After five years of reading, the choice of books had become more instinctive. The Dark is Rising felt right for the season, and for the stage of the journey — a story about the oldest struggle between light and dark, read in the darkest days of the year.
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