The Ropemaker

core novel 2001 The Ropemaker

Record

First published	2001
Original language	EN
Work type	novel
Canon status	core
Reader rating	3.70 (2,728 ratings, collected 2026-10-26)
First-edition ISBN	9780385729215
Internal chronology	1

Synopsis

For twenty generations the people of the Valley have been protected by powerful magic: no enemy can pass the poisoned forests to the south or the deadly glaciers to the north. But the spell is weakening. Tilja, her grandmother and two companions, with an obstinate horse, set out through the Empire of the evil Emperor and his powerful magicians to find the ancient magician who first cast those spells. On their long and perilous journey Tilja discovers a strange power of her own, one that lets her enter the Empire's most guarded fortress and learn the identity of the one they call the Ropemaker, a man who controls the rope of time itself.

Where it sits

• Universe: The Ropemaker
• Series: The Ropemaker core; position 1 of 1 in the series' recorded order
• Author: Peter Dickinson

Awards (verified)

• Mythopoeic Award (Children's Literature), 2002: won
• Michael L. Printz Award (Honor Book), 2002: honor

Notes

• From the series record (The Ropemaker): Peter Dickinson's first high-fantasy novel.

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 Ropemaker: position 1 of 2: next Angel Isle (2006)

Sources

• American Library Association: The Ropemaker (Delacorte Press, 2002 Printz Honor)
• United Agents: The Estate of Peter Dickinson (Angel Isle described as the sequel to The Ropemaker)
• Orem Public Library catalogue: The Ropemaker (summary)
• Mythopoeic Society (final ballots)
• American Library Association: The Ropemaker (Printz Award 2002 honor)

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