The Dark is Rising
Posted on the 29th September, 2025
Where it came from
Susan Cooper studied English in Oxford at the time when J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were lecturing there. She later became a journalist and moved to the USA. Her homesickness played a big role in her choice of settings for the book series: the Thames Valley where she grew up, at the Cornish coast of her childhood holidays, and the Welsh countryside where her mother’s family is from. Almost all of the places mentioned in the series are real.
Where it went next
There are five novels in the series, Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King and Silver on the Tree. Between them they have received numerous awards.
Over Sea, Under Stone was written some time before the other five and is aimed at slightly younger readers.
The second book The Dark is Rising is probably the best known and was a Newbery Honor book in 1974. In 2007 it was made into a film, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, though it wasn’t well received by critics or by fans of the book for the changes it made to characters and plot. The Grey King won the Newbery Medal in 1976.
Associated stories
Susan Cooper's other novels for children include Dawn of Fear, set in the Second World War, King of Shadows, a timeslip story about Shakespearean England and Victory, inspired by the Battle of Trafalgar.