The Hollowing
First edition cover
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| Author | |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Geoff Taylor |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Mythago Wood series |
| Genre | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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1993 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 314 pp |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Bone Forest (1991) |
| Followed by | Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn (1997) |
The Hollowing is the third fantasy novel of the Mythago Wood series written by . It was originally published in 1993. The title refers to a magical pathway, or hollowing, an archaic English term for a sunken lane or hollow-way. The Hollowing was inspired by the story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
The Hollowing shares the third person narrative viewpoint as does its predecessor, Lavondyss. The narrative begins in the 1950s, merely one year after the events that take place in Lavondyss, but the majority of the story takes place in 1968. Inside Ryhope wood, Tallis Keeton's young friend, Alex Bradley, remains an adolescent when he would otherwise be twenty years old. This is possible because the rate of time inside the wood is not synchronized with the rate of time outside the wood. The story's protagonist is Alex's father, Richard Bradley. Richard is on a quest to locate his lost son in the wood, a very dangerous task because Alex’s overactive imagination generates mythagos dangerous to both himself and others.
The day Tallis Keeton disappears into Ryhope wood in Lavondyss, her father, James Keeton, disappears into the wood to locate her. While he spends only four days in Ryhope wood, over one year of time passes in the outside world. When he turns up, he is clutching Moondream, one of Tallis’ masks, and is placed in a mental hospital. He is kept close company by Alex Bradley, a young playmate of Tallis’, who alone can calm James. James Keeton has a number of episodes in which he appears to communicate with Tallis through the mask. In a dramatic scene, Richard Bradley sees James Keeton collapse and die. At the same time, his son Alex is physically traumatized by a mythic force. This compromises Alex’s mental faculties and he is confined to the same mental hospital. Alex escapes the mental hospital and his highly decayed remains are subsequently found, so he is presumed dead.
After six years Alex’s father, Richard Bradley, receives evidence that Alex may yet be alive in Ryhope wood. Richard joins a scientific expedition to locate his son in the wood, rendered all the more dangerous by the mythagos feeding off Alex’s imagination.
During his quest in the wood, Richard Bradley develops a romantic relationship with Helen Silverlock, a Native American. In addition to introducing Native American culture into Ryhope wood, mythagos about Jack (as in Jack and the Beanstalk), the Tower of Babel and Jason and the Argonauts appear, the last two of which involve variations on myths that are uncharacteristically non-English in origin.
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