Set in modern Wales, it is an adaptation of the story of the mythical Welsh woman Blodeuwedd, an "expression of the myth" in the author's words.

Garner won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British author.

[2] It was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works for the 70th anniversary celebration in 2007, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite.

[3] Garner also won the second annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a similar award that authors may not win twice.

She is a woman created from flowers by the king of Gwynedd, Math, and the magician and trickster Gwydion, for a man who was cursed to take no human wife.

Clive's former wife was notoriously unfaithful, bringing shame to the family and a particular kind of pain to his son, Roger.

To bond the new family together they are spending a few weeks of the summer in an isolated valley in Wales, a few hours' drive from Aberystwyth.

He almost falls through the ceiling while simultaneously Roger, lounging by a large flat stone near the river, hears a scream and seems to see something flying through the air toward him.

Gwyn is intelligent and wants to further his education, but Clive expresses the stereotypical clannish closed-ranks attitudes of the upper middle class towards him.

Eventually he takes to ridiculing Gwyn's efforts to improve himself with elocution lessons on gramophone records, calling them "improve-a-prole."

As the holiday slides into disaster, the British attitude of "seeing it through to the end" prevails, even though Clive could pay off all the staff and leave at any time.

Nancy gradually reveals her resentment of Margaret and Alison, as she once expected to marry Bertram and should have been mistress of the very house she toils in.

He attempts to run away, walking up the sides of the valley as the weather worsens, but is chased back by a pack of sheepdogs.

Huw tells him of the power that exists in the valley, how those of the blood have to re-enact the legend each time, and how Blodeuwedd always comes as owls instead of flowers because of the hatred.

The dinner plates and the wall painting were done by Huw's ancestors, trying to lock up the magic in their creations, but Alison has let it loose again.

Alison, having been given the stone by Huw, collapses and is brought into the kitchen, where she writhes in the grip of some force that makes claw marks on her skin.

"[6] Another fellow reteller of Welsh material in English, Susan Cooper said that the novel can be called "true fantasy", "subtle and overwhelming".

"[8] Gillian Polack notes that although “Alan Garner doesn’t explore the Middle Ages deeply in The Owl Service”, he deftly utilises “one small legend to build a modern study of class and personality” which indicates that “where you come from and what opportunities your life gives you can open and close life choices”.

First, (p216) Second, (p217) Third, (p217) Fourth, he cited a local's key contribution: (pp217–218) In its re-telling in video form, Garner described (p219) the later making of the television series, filmed in the valley itself, as "a kind of magical madness", saying it "had made the story...more real than reality".

[10] Peter Plummer, the producer and director of the television adaptation, described in 1979 a nationwide search for surviving dinner services with the same owl/flower pattern, conducted in association with TV Times during 1969: In 2012 Garner mentioned that he had only ever seen five plates with the design.