The Ocean at the End of the Lane

by Neil Gaiman,

This is the story of a young boy who inadvertently gets involved with some otherworldly figures.  His family is having some financial difficulties. A border is found dead in the family's car.  The young boy is befriended by a young girl who lives on a nearby farm.  The girl lives with her mother and grandmother.  They seem quite peculiar, making reference to things that heappend a long time ago, as if they had been there.  The girl tells him that the pond on the farm is really an ocean.  He is sceptical.  She takes him along to confront the evil forces that were involved with the death of his border.  They meet a fantastic creature who is threatening them.  The girl warns the boy to not let go of her hand but he accidentally lets go.  A bit later he feels a pain in his body/foot.

They get away from the creature but when the boy gets home he finds he has a cut in his foot and that there is a worm in it.  He tries to pull the worm out and thinks he got it all, but he didn't.  The creature they were confronting has been brought into the present through the boy's body.

Soon a woman arrives in the family home.  She is introduced as a housekeeper/nanny for the children.  The woman threatens the young boy but has the rest of the family wrapped around her finger.  The woman seduces the boy's father and turns the father against him so that his father almost drowns him in the bathtub while punishing him.

The woman tells the boy if he tries to leave his yard she will know but he manages to get away to the farm to get help from the young girl.  The girl helps him overcome the evil but at the cost of her own life.

I am not usually a fan of fantasy.  However, this book received a lot of praise.  I did find it an interesting story.  Gaiman does a great job of representing childhood fears and terror and demons and also the friendships that can develop between children..  The story and the descriptions of the confrontations with the evil forces were very dramatic and fear enducing.  The plot line with family members turning on the boy were reminiscent of a good fairy tale.  It was an interesting, memorable and enjoyable tale.