Particularly when it came to the character Dimmy. It also felt like the darkest and most tragic of all the Jarvis books I'd read to that point. I loved that it explored more of the world began in Deptford (London), with locations such as Crete, India and Singapore visited. I think it's partly because it followed a desire that I've had my entire life - for exotic locales (reality and fiction). I'm still impressed just thinking about it now. And when it came to the Deptford Histories, which I came to after, I was ambivalent about The Alchymist's Cat (I didn't want a story with humans in, and while I appreciated it being a prequel, it felt a bit boring for most of it), I only read a few chapters of The Oaken Throne - loaned from a library I think - before DNFing it (though now I see it was a highly rated one so maybe I should buy it again if I find I still like the others) probably because it being about a "squirrel maiden" was too "girly" for my boy brain at the time - no doubt it would have got a lot darker later on, in classic Jarvis style.Īnd the third book of the Histories, Thomas, was my FAVOURITE of all the Jarvis books. I do remember very much enjoying the Deptford Mice trilogy.
Or should I leave them and just keep the memories, in case they aren't as good as I remember? I don't know how I'd rate them now as an adult, but maybe I should try a re-read. I would definitely argue they are considerably darker than Redwall.
Even thinking of them now it's surprising considering them as children's books.
This was before YA took off, and I suppose you could say they were middle-grade, but darker than most middle grade books of the time, or perhaps even now. Obviously most people here know about Redwall, but I rarely see the Deptford Mice books mentioned here (in fact, doing a search for them, I get "no community results"). until you rediscover them, maybe just see the names online and are reminded, or, like me, visit your parents and find the faded books on a shelf in your old room or in the attic. We all have them - books that you loved as a kid, that held a clear place in your imagination, but that you forget about through long stretches of adulthood.
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