Mythago Wood

Robert Holdstock
1984

Mythago Wood is a story about myths and legends, and men caught up in them. Ryhope wood is a place where energy draws out the mythical characters of man’s past and makes them real, using memories in the minds of those who live nearby.

Steven and Christian are brothers who grew up near Ryhope wood. The story begins with the background of Steven leaving to serve in the second world war, leaving his home near Ryhope Wood, and his distant, uncaring father. His recovery from wounds after the war in France and finally his reluctant return to his home. While he has been away his father has died and his brother Christian has married a girl called Guiwenneth.

When Steven arrives though, Christian is alone, Guiwenneth has gone, and he won’t discuss it. Steven is disturbed by the changes in Christian, who is coming to resemble their obsessed, driven father, Huxley. Shortly afterwards, Christian leaves abruptly in the middle of the night, going into Ryhope Wood. The wood has only a six mile perimeter, yet apparently Christian, like Huxley, can disappear inside for days or weeks.

The concepts behind the story are well thought out and appealing, and believable enough. In fact amazingly believable. The book is full of short myths and stories from more primitive times, which have a jarring style that lends credibility.

The descriptions of the wood, and the mythagos encountered there by Steven during his adventures are rich and interesting. Anyone who has the slightest imagination can read this book and feel themselves in the woods, smelling the earth and compost, feeling the breeze and the eternal sense of being watched that is so common in that environment.

In some ways this is a love story, but it is mainly a legend, either retold or created anew, it all becomes one.