The Stone Book series confirms Alan Garner's mastery of plain language.

Each book is rich in dialect, starting with the first lines of The Stone Book: "A bottle of cold tea, bread and a half onion. That was Father's baggin."

Words such as "baggin" (for "lunch") establish the authenticity of Garner's style, yet their meanings are always clear and never slow the stories down.

Equally authentic are idioms borrowed from mining, masonry, metalwork, farming, and other trades. When the Allmans' house is demolished in Granny Reardun, for instance, the workmen do not simply stack different sized roof slates on the site; they stack "Princesses, Duchesses, Small Countesses, Ladies, Wide Doubles, and the neat Jennie-go-lightlies from under the ridge."

Gamer's descriptions are simple but brilliant. In The Stone Book Mary watches a half-eaten onion fall from the steeple: "The onion dropped off Father's knife and floated down...