She is a clever and witty writer, Diana Wynne Jones—too clever in some of her books; you admire the means, ultimately not so much the ends. Not so, however, with her latest book Drowned Ammet, set like the earlier Cart and Cwidder in the mythical country of Dalemark…. Escaping plot and counterplot, the three [protagonists] sail away to the Holy Islands, assisted during storms by the two gods whose worship is centred there, and who, in the undignified guise of poor Old Ammet and Libby Beer, are carried through Holland in effigy during the annual sea festival and thrown into the harbour.

The origins of this are anthropological rather than mythological perhaps, some familiar enough but all properly rooted in a living and integrated plot. The evoking of magical powers is strong, idiosyncratic and interesting. With water the prevailing image, I am reminded of Dannie Abse's dictum...