T. H. White (1906–1964)

"She first, a square opening, about eight inches wide, in the lowest step...finally she saw that there was a walnut shell, or half one, outside the nearest door...she went to look at the shell—but looked with the greatest astonishment. There was a baby in it."
So ten-year-old Maria, orphaned mistress of Malplaquet, discovers the secret of her deteriorating on a deserted island at its far corner, in the temple long ago nicknamed Mistress Masham's Repose, live an entire community of people—"The People," as they call themselves—all only inches tall. With the help of her only friend—the absurdly erudite Professor—Maria soon learns that this settlement is no less than the kingdom of Lilliput (first seen in Gulliver's Travels ) in exile. Safely hidden for centuries, the Lilliputians are at first endangered by Maria's well-meaning but clumsy attempts to make their lives easier, but their situation grows truly ominous when they are discovered by Maria's greedy guardians, who look at The People and see only a bundle of money.… (plus d'informations)

I have no idea what to make of this book. It’s the second book in The Once and Future King quartet, was extensively revised after initial publication, when it was titled The Queen of Air and Darkness. Except The Witch in the Wood is supposedly longer than The Queen of Air and Darkness, but the version I read, which had the former title, was barely 100 pages long. And, to be honest, it didn't have much of a plot. Arthur is now king, but apparently not everyone has accepted this so he has to fight to prove himself. Merlyn lectures him on how fighting for the sake of fighting is not a good idea, and while combat may be fun for knights, it isn’t for the serfs, the foot soldiers, who get killed in large numbers. Meanwhile, King Pellinore is visiting Orkney with two companions, while King Lot is off fighting Arthur. Pellinore didn’t want to be there–he was following the Questing Beast, and having great fun, and then he fell in love with the daughter of the King of Flanders, but this magic boat appeared so he climbed into it. And now he’s stuck in Orkney. His friends try to improve his mood by faking the Questing Beast, but the real Questing Beast turns up and falls in love with their fake one (think pantomime horse). Then there’s a big battle and Arthur revolutionises tactics by attacking the knights and not the serfs. So, of course, he wins. This didn’t even feel like a novel, more like an info-dump. The scenes with Sir Grummor and Sir Palomides are funny, but feel like music hall. There are several lectures on politics and authority, which reference Hitler, and are well argued. But none of it feels like a novel in a series of four. I mean, White’s prose is… idiosyncratic, but so much more appealing than Tolkien’s. White throws in anachronisms, but he makes it work. And he’s funny. The Hobbit cannot compare. Two more books to go, but it’s already clear The Once and Future King is greatly superior to The Hobbit.… (plus d'informations)