Title: The Nargun and the Stars
Author: Patricia Wrightson
Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Opening lines: ‘…It was night when the Nargun began to leave …’
Blurb: When Simon Brent’s parents are killed in a car accident he is taken to live with his mother’s second cousins, Edie and Charlie, on Wongadilla, their 5000 acre sheep run in the Hunter Valley in NSW Australia. Simon, with his city attitudes feels like an outsider, and wonders how he will ever learn to like country life. But Simon is not the only thing that doesn’t belong in Wongadilla; the Nargun, a great rock, older than time itself, has slowly dragged itself from Victoria and into the valley looking for peace and quiet and a place to sleep for a few thousand years. Sadly for Nargun the appearance of heavy machinery to clear some of the land makes such a noise that it is woken up and with a simmering rage that drives it to kill. As the terror begins, Simon, his cousins and other ancient creatures must use their wit and ingenuity to drive the monster away.
My thoughts: THE NARGUN AND THE STARS is a children’s fantasy novel set in Australia, but instead of the European fairy folk who are too delicate for our rugged country author Patricia Wrightson uses our homegrown dreamtime bush creatures – far more suited to the land. The Nargun is a fierce half-human half-stone creature that lived in the Den of Nargun in the Gippsland Victoria, the Den of Nargun is a real place and is a cave under a rock overhang behind a small waterfall. All Nargun wanted was peace and quiet during the day and to gaze at the stars at night – while killing and eating the occasional warm-blooded creature, be it animal or human. In the late 1800s the Nargun is disturbed by the noise made by the increasing human population so decides to head out in search of a quieter home. For 80 years the Nargun slowly heads north until it finds a very suitable gully in the Hunter Valley. There it decides to settle – much to the horror of the other bush creatures the cheeky swamp Potkoorok, the whispery cave Nyols and the rustling tree Turongs who love playing tricks on humans – but don’t want this strange foreign creature in their part of the world.
Simon spends time alone and gets to meet these ancient creatures and learn their ways. As the Nargun starts to threaten the farm Simon finds out his aunt and uncle also know and respect the creatures and asks them for help to get rid of the Nargun. The creatures don’t want the Nargun but are too scared to go up against it – but a plan is hatched for Simon and his Uncle to do battle with the beast. THE NARGUN AND THE STARS is beautifully written and is a wonderful introduction to our very own mythical creatures – or are they mythical? Ever walked past rustling trees and noticed there is no wind? Turongs!!
Rating: B – Great. I really enjoyed reading it and it is a book I will be recommending to all my friends who like this genre.
For more about the author – Click Here
Books and Musings from Downunder 
I love this book! I can’t tell you how exciting it was to visit the actual place where the Nargun’s cave is in Gippsland: it really is quite a creepy sort of place, even on a sunny day it feels mysterious and vaguely threatening.
Would you like me to post my photos from there on Facebook?
[…] reviews include Slave Girl (Alexa Moses) reviewed by Brenda and the classic The Nargun and the Stars (Patricia Wrightson) reviewed by Sally from […]