‘Ragbone! Ragbone! Any rags! Pots for rags! Donkey stone!’

Welcome to a slow read of Treacle Walker by Alan Garner. I am your guide, Simon Haisell, and this is Footnotes & Tangents, a book group where we take our time to live inside great stories.

Published in 2021, Treacle Walker is Alan Garner’s ninth novel. It is a strange, evocative and enigmatic story about a boy with a squint who meets a rag-and-bone man who can heal all, “save jealousy. Which none can.”

Now aged 91, Alan Garner has left his mark on generations of readers and writers. In Britain, we grew up with his debut novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1957), alongside Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising, read by many at the same age we discovered Narnia and Middle-earth.

A 2016 collection of essays celebrating Alan Garner’s work includes contributions from Margaret Atwood, Stephen Fry, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith, Robert Macfarlane, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

Treacle Walker was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2022. I read it over the summer of that year, reading and re-reading, researching and writing around the book. In fact, reading Treacle Walker provided the blueprint for Footnotes & Tangents: A curious, creative, appreciative, open-hearted journey through a book. For me, this is where it all begins.

So to celebrate four years of Footnotes & Tangents, I am revisiting Treacle Walker. And I would be delighted and honoured if you would join me.

Below is the reading schedule for the slow read.

The read-along begins on 3 July and runs for 3 weeks.

Every Friday, you will receive a post from me with discussion and resources for that week’s reading, and you can join the conversation in the comments section. In these posts, I offer you my footnotes and tangents. You will have your own, and I encourage everyone to treat the slow read as an opportunity to explore, reflect and create.

You can join the discussion in the comments to let us know what caught your eye or ask the group any questions you may have. And if you’ve tumbled down a rabbit hole or taken your reading off on a tangent, please share where you have been and what you have found.

To receive these posts, turn on notifications for “2026 Treacle Walker” in your settings.

The first post is always free. To access the rest of the read-along, you’ll need to be a paid subscriber to Footnotes & Tangents. This costs £5/month or £50/year. There are discounts for groups and complimentary subscriptions for readers on low or no income.

* Read more about membership

* Slow read Frequently Asked Questions

* Testimonials from slow readers

Everything related to the slow read can be found here:

Reading schedule

Week 1: Chapters I – VI

Friday 3 July – Thursday 9 July

Week 2: Chapters VII – XII

Friday 10 July – Thursday 16 July

Week 3: Chapters XIII – XVIII

Friday 17 July – Thursday 23 July