From Spare Oom to War Drobe

As a little girl of nine, Katherine Langrish fell deeply in love with The Chronicles of Narnia – she was even inspired to write a book of stories set in that world, complete with poster-paint picture of Aslan on the homemade dust jacket.

Although she loved the Narnia books to bursting, others took their place as she grew up. For years they sat unopened on her shelves. She began to wonder why. Had they simply become too familiar? Had the charm faded? What might they mean to her as an adult?

From Spare Oom to War Drobe is a love letter to that early passion, as well as a reappraisal of The Chronicles of Narnia in the light of maturity and changing tastes. It brilliantly evokes her initial sense of childish wonder, and in a close reading of the novels, including analysis of the context in which other critics have placed them, she gives us a superbly rich, enlightening, and immensely readable guide to the world of these evergreen stories.