The Dubious Hills
core novel 1994 The Secret Country
Record
| First published | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.66 (324 ratings, collected 2026-11-01) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780312854423 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
In the Dubious Hills, an old enchantment forbids violence, left over from a war among eight sorcerers. Children there have magic that fades as they grow, and in its place each acquires deep knowledge of a single field. Arry is a girl whose parents vanished on a trip and are believed to have become werewolves; she now looks after her younger siblings. When wolves begin attacking local sheep, she suspects that her missing parents and her teacher Halver may be among them. She learns that Halver may be planning to challenge the spell that keeps violence out of the hills, and she must decide how far to trust him while she tries to protect her family and her neighbours.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Secret Country
- Series: The Dubious Hills core; position 1 of 1 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Pamela Dean
Awards (verified)
- Mythopoeic Award (Adult Literature), 1995: nominated
Notes
- Set in a different region of the Secret Country world, with new characters.
- From the series record (The Dubious Hills): A standalone novel set in another region of the Secret Country world.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Internal chronology, within The Secret Country: position 2 of 4: previous The Secret Country (1985) · next The Hidden Land (1986)
Sources
- Kirkus Reviews
- AbeBooks listing (Tor hardcover, 1994)
- TV Tropes - The Secret Country
- Wikipedia - Pamela Dean
← The Secret Country dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.