Possibly because I am not primarily concerned with children, but rather with books and literary theory, I feel that Mayne is a major writer, who should be recognized as such. That opinion is based on the oeuvre, rather than on any single book…. In his style, Mayne is an original, one of the few true stylists of the twentieth century; if the language echoes a somewhat idealistic view of a child's perceptive processes, it is nonetheless at its best with the apparently inconsequential, avoiding patronizing either the characters or the implied readers. It sets up, in short, an honest narrative contract.

Consider, for example, the opening of The Twelve Dancers…. (p. 13)

I feel that the passage offers precisely what literature should offer; something essentially different; something unique. More prosaically, it is remarkably economical in setting the character and background for the novel, and the irony operates—unlike many...