BBC World Service 20-25 December 2022 / BBC Radio 4 26/27 December 2022 / BBC Sounds

 Midwinter is Coming

Will Stanton lives in an idyllic rural setting, where we find him just before his 11th birthday. The opening scene is a page right out of an Enid Blyton novel, and I find myself hankering for afternoon tea and crumpets with the impossibly perfect RP diction of one so young. It’s all very twee – until he sees ‘The Sign’…

That is, the first Sign, one given to him by Farmer Dawson. For Will is no ordinary boy, as this audio dramatization of Susan Cooper’s classic fantasy series explains.

Will is the seventh son of a seventh son, and the last of ‘The Old Ones’, an ancient group who go into battle against the forces of darkness. Will is soon set on a quest to find The Six Signs he’ll need in his fight and he journeys across time, with help from colourful, benevolent characters such as ‘The Lady’, and hindrance from the sinister ‘Rider’.

Split into 12 easily digestible parts of less than 20 minutes, each being broadcast on the respective day in December when the story is set, we meet Will on the eve of midwinter, and he isn’t given good news. Imagine having the fate of humankind placed on your shoulders around the time you started secondary school… yet it speaks to that pre-pubescent sense that there’s more out there as we learn about the world around us. As we grow through the age of reason, there’s a world full of things to fear, and yet there is also hope. Boundaries are tested, that’s one of the ways we learn, and Will certainly experiences that – he makes mistakes, stumbles and falls, but with kind and wise guidance, he finds his path again and inner strength to stand against the rising dark. It’s both by luck and sometimes by judgement that he prevails – but isn’t that often the case in reality?

The narration by Simon McBurney is atmospheric and pitch perfect for this Yuletide YA yarn, and it’s his delivery, together with stirring sound scaping that will set young listeners’ hearts racing.

If you’re looking for a tale to listen to as a family in that strange no-man’s land between Christmas and New Year in which we now find ourselves, I’d strongly recommend this.

Verdict: A tranquil country childhood is shattered by a fantastical quest. 8/10

Claire Smith