Love fantasy novels? Give these a try...

Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising has long been my favorite fantasy series - I had great fun with Harry Potter and absolutely adore Jonathan Stroud's Bartimeaus trilogy, but Cooper's books have remained my favorites. Published between 1966-77, they have a classic sensibility and require an attention and focus that is more demanding than many modern books for young people - but the reward for the careful reader is tremendous.

Still, she remains something of a well-kept secret in the US and so it was with great joy that I learned that Susan Cooper was chosen for the Margaret A. Edwards lifetime achievement award. This interview with Cooper reveals many delightful details about her life - as a student of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien at Oxford, and as a young reporter working for Ian Fleming!

If, like many, you are mourning the end of the Harry Potter series, and feel cast adrift in search of an absorbing set of fantasy books to sink your teeth into, why not pick up Over Sea, Under Stone and see what you think?