The Marvellous Land of Snergs

By: E. A. Wyke-Smith, George Morrow - illustrator

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

This children's fantasy novel is set on a fictional, hard-to-reach island somewhere on planet Earth. The island is host to a colony of children, a wicked witch, the crew of the Flying Dutchman, and the titular snergs—as well as unicorns, tigers, bears, ghouls, and dragons that live in the woods.

The story follows Sylvia and Joe on an adventure gone wrong once they're taken captive by an ogre, Golithos, and the aforementioned wicked witch: Mother Meldrum. Gorbo the Snerg and Baldry, a court jester, must come to their aid.

Published in Britain in 1927, the novel was originally written for the author's young children and follows in the footsteps of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It is widely believed the snergs served as inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien's hobbits.

Public Domain (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Absolutely charming!

I listened to the modern version of this and that made me want to listen to this, the original version. This is just as charming as the modernized version and probably would be liked by children but I think adults might actually enjoy it more! It’s a very easy listen. But you never know what’s going to happen next. so there is an element of excitement. It differs enough from the modern version that it’s like an entirely new story. Except for a happy ending, listening to one version before the other does not result in spoilers. It’s very interesting to listen to this original version since it it was an inspiration to JRR Tolkien’s writing of The Hobbit. You can see where some of his ideas came from. I just enjoyed it so much!

Where has this book been?

excellent story that grips you the whole time. Funny, witty, suspense, what more can you ask for? I'm very surprised that this book did not get more no notoriety. I put it right up there with the Narnia books and The Hobbit. surprised I had to do some digging in order to find this title.