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Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)
Garfield, Leon

Tagged: Author.

(1921-1996) UK writer, mainly for children. Most of his numerous books are set in history, with only the occasional rumour of fantasy or Supernatural Fiction. Some stories in Mr Corbett's Ghost and Other Stories (coll 1969) – the title story being republished as Mr Corbett's Ghost (1982 chap) – are of fantasy interest (see Ghost Stories for Children), and The Ghost Downstairs (1972) describes a Pact with the Devil. Of more interest is The God Beneath the Sea (1970) with Edward Blishen (1920-1996), illustrated by Charles Keeping, in which the baby God Hephaestus – hurled into the sea from Olympus because of his ugliness – is rescued by the goddesses Thetis and Eurynome, who tell him the long Story Cycle of the Greek Pantheon (see Myths) into which he has been born; the novel closes with his second fall from Olympus, which he also survives, ultimately in the company of Hermes. The Golden Shadow (coll 1973), also with Blishen, again presents Greek myths, this time in a more usual Twice-Told fashion. Garfield also produced a "completion" of Charles Dickens's unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1980). [JC]

other works: The Pleasure Garden (1976) (see Revel); Empty Sleeve (1988).

Leon Garfield

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