Cart and Cwidder, by Diana Wynne Jones, is the first book in a young adult fantasy series called the Dalemark Quartet. Written in 1975, it’s one of Jones’ earlier books, and I was curious to see how it stacks up.

Our story takes place in the land of Dalemark, a vaguely medieval country which was once united under a king but is now split into the North and the South, both of which consist of a number of relatively independent earldoms. The North, where the king’s city used to be, is tolerably free; in the South, the earls rule as tyrants, and revolution is in the air. Few are able to travel from North to South and back again.

One of these few is Clennen the Singer and his family, who travel about Dalemark in their brightly colored cart, performing in the towns they pass through and carrying messages. Clennen’s younger boy, Moril, plays the cwidder, a stringed instrument that seems to be like a lute or mandolin, though it comes in different sizes, and Clennen is teaching him to play Clennen’s own cwidder, an instrument that supposedly belonged to the great bard Osfameron in years gone by. When Osfameron played, the mountains walked and the dead rose. So happens that “Moril” is short for Osfameron Tanamoril; and when Clennan is murdered and their passenger Kialan is being sought by the wicked Earl Tholian, Moril has to find out whether those legends are true.

In general, I liked the book. The characters are well-drawn, and the relationship between Clennan and his wife Lenina is fascinating. On the other hand, the book seems too short; and I thought the denouement was somewhat rushed and unconvincing, not handled with the skill Jones shows in her later books.

I read this one to myself, rather than to the kids; but it’s likely that I’ll read it to them at some point in the future.