Duncton Wood

‘Luxuriantly written… richly drawn, painting a detailed and loving panorama.’ Associated Press

‘A passionate, lyrical, appealing tale… Consistently absorbing… Enchanting’ Cosmopolitan

‘A great big mole-epic with a great big theme’ Daily Mail

‘Horwood has placed his astute ear to the ground and fashioned… a modern masterpiece… Classic themes of conflict are here, good and evil, love and hate, the clash of traditional and modern values.’ Houston Chronicle

‘Destined to be a classic… A beautiful story.’ Little Rock Arkansas Gazette

‘An earthy epic fantasy… William Horwood has a thoroughbred his first time out, a book with the grace, style, underlying power – and control – of a seasoned champion… The themes of power, survival, passion, courage, sacrifice, love and devotion are presented with astonishing clarity.’ Los Angeles Times Book Review

‘An absolute spell-binder, by Lord of the Rings out of Watership Down. I found it enchanting, compulsive reading… I am still haunted by its beauty’ Magnus Magnusson 

‘His mole empire is a delight, his romantic tale full of adventure, suspense, battle and searchings’ Publishers Weekly

‘The stuff of legend… an elaborate allegorical tale of an old system in decline, of moles sapped of spirit and energy as they lose touch with the ancient rituals and codes that in proud bygone days provided them with their life powers… Horwood’s natural world is lyrically realised, his mole empire a delight, his romantic tale full of adventure, suspense, battle and searchings… A rich, cautionary fairy tale.’ Publishers Weekly

‘An inspiring novel… an epic in the tradition of The Lord of the Rings. A tale of genocide, torture, passion, courage, fear and love, an anthropormorphic allegory of spiritual redemption.’ Sunday Times

‘A massive read… more readable and more rewarding than The Lord of the Rings’ The Times

‘Special, endearing, successful… truly touching… This is a novel for the pure-at-heart and slightly naive, for the childishness in the weary, and the children we should be having… Allegorically fabulous.’ Village Voice

In conjunction with crowdfunding platform Unbound, we are delighted to announce that we are reissuing William Horwood’s 1980 best-selling novel, Duncton Wood. This unique collaboration between digital and crowd-funding publishers and a major fantasy author marks the beginning of a program to bring back all six Duncton books of what has been described as a ‘modern fantasy classic’.

First published in 1980, Duncton Wood quickly became a word-of-mouth sensation before the age of the internet and viral marketing. It is an epic quest for love, grace and power in which Horwood bestows a spell-binding mythology on the dark and mysterious world of moles.

Duncton Wood spawned five further Duncton novels, which have sold over a million copies. In 2000 William Horwood decided to withdraw the books from sale for ‘personal reasons’. They have been out-of-print ever since.

Until now.

William has agreed to a one-off reprinting of the original Duncton Wood novel, a publication that launches today at Unbound, the world's first crowd-funding publisher. This numbered, limited edition hardback will only be available via Unbound. It will be a beautiful, cloth-bound hardback with a cover design unique to this edition. As well as buying the book, readers can pledge for additional rewards including a chance to walk with the author through the woods that inspired the novels or to have their edition dedicated personally with lines from the book. Once this edition goes to print there will be no more copies produced.

In 2017, Abandoned Bookshop will be publishing the first three books in the series — Duncton Wood, Duncton Questand Duncton Found — as ebooks, the first time they have appeared in digital editions.

Abandoned Bookshop co-founder and publisher, Scott Pack, says: “I was given Duncton Wood by a friend as a Christmas gift in the mid-90s. Every year I would be given the next in the series until, when it came to the last book, it was no longer available! I am extremely proud that William has entrusted us with making this magical series of books available for readers once more.”

William Horwood says, ‘For nearly two decades I’ve always said to fans who ask me when Duncton will be back, “maybe next year…”. Scott is a persuasive publisher and Unbound the perfect vehicle for a one-off print run. So now I can say, “2017”’ and mean it!’