Yet, if only they knew what was truly awakening, deep within the medieval forests...This article has been distinguished as part of the real world and thus should not be taken as part of the fictional universe of the Deptford Mice books.
The Deptford Mice is a trilogy of dark fantasy novels by Robin Jarvis.
The books concern a community of mice living in an empty house in the London borough of Deptford. The stories tell of a mouse girl named Audrey Brown and her friends. They struggle to defeat the evil Jupiter, mysterious and all-powerful lord of the sewer rats. The first book, The Dark Portal, was published in 1989 as a Purnell book by Macdonald & Company in London. It was followed by The Crystal Prison, also published in 1989, and The Final Reckoning, published in 1990.
About[]
Robin Jarvis came up with the idea for The Deptford Mice while working as a model-maker for television programmes and commercials. He had been designing a big, furry alien but decided to take a break and draw something small. That something was a mouse who would become the character Oswald Chitter.[1] Jarvis continued to doodle mice, and when a friend of his saw the sketches, he suggested they be sent to a publisher. The publisher responded positively and asked if there was a story to accompany the drawings. At the time there wasn't one, but Jarvis then wrote the story of The Deptford Mice.[2] He had originally envisioned it as a picture book, but it became a 70,000 word manuscript. When Jarvis' editor told him that the manuscript could make a trilogy due to its long length, he went away and cut it, and then came up with more ideas for the second and third books.[3]
A prequel trilogy called The Deptford Histories followed soon after The Deptford Mice books were published. These would explore the backstories of several characters from the original trilogy. The Deptford Mice Almanack served both as a sequel and a supplemental work to the The Deptford Mice, delving into the lore and customs observed by the animal characters. The Deptford Mouselets books were created for a slightly younger audience and are each set in the year prior to The Dark Portal.
Notes and references[]
- ↑ The Deptford Mice - The Dark Portal robinjarvis.com
- ↑ Robin Jarvis - Frequently Asked Questions robinjarvis.com
- ↑ Introduction to the Hodder Silver editions of The Deptford Mice books