Susan Cooper was born in Buckinghamshire, England (the location of The Dark is Rising), in 1935. She graduated from Oxford University and went to work as a journalist for the Sunday Times newspaper in London. Later, she moved to Wales, where her book, The Grey King, takes place. She feels the settings in her books are very important. She always tries to describe the countryside in her stories and give them a key role is establishing the mood of her books. In 1963 she moved to the United States, where she began her career as an author of young adult fiction. In 1973 she wrote The Dark is Rising and three years later she won the prestigious Newbery Award for the fourth novel in the Dark is Rising Sequence, The Grey King. She now lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts and continues to write.
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. Book Two in the Dark is Rising Sequence.
It's nearly Christmas, and nearly Will Stanton's eleventh birthday in his hometown outside London in 1972. But his dogs are growling at him. His pet rabbit, Chelsea, is frightened of him. The radio turns to static when he walks by. When he and his brother visit nearby Farmer Dawson on an errand for his mother, Will is accosted by a raggedly dressed vagabond and a flock of menacing ravens hovers above them on their way home.
Will is at a loss to explain these disturbing events, until he meets Merriman Lyon, an elderly gentleman serving as butler in the local manor. From Merriman, Will learns that as the seventh son of a seventh son, when he turns eleven, he will join a group of powerful beings called The Old Ones. The Old Ones are charged with the task of keeping the evil forces of The Dark at bay. Will joins them as the Seeker, the Old One who must find the signs of power, forge them together and help the Old Ones and the forces of Light drive the forces of Dark back to oblivion.
Will is skeptical, certain as he is that he is just a normal eleven year old boy. But events are moving fast. Will receives a strange iron mandala as an early Christmas present. The Black Rider confronts Will and demands that Will give him the mandala. Merriman and the Lady Greythorne convince him of his mission and offer their help as fellow Old Ones, just as the forces of the Dark launch a full scale attack to wrest the mandalas from Will. As a devastating blizzard, brought on by the forces of The Dark, begins to wreck havoc throughout England, Will realizes that he has become the only one who can stop the forces of Dark from obliterating the forces of Light. But can he live up to the task and the faith that the other Old Ones have in him? One thing is for certain: the battle has begun and Will is in the thick of it.
