Thursbitch
{{Short description|2003 novel by Alan Garner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = Thursbitch
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = AlanGarner Thursbitch.jpg
| caption = First edition cover
| author = Alan Garner
| cover_artist =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Fantasy novel
| publisher = The Harvill Press
| release_date = October 2003
| media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
| pages = 160 p. (hardback edition)
| isbn = 1-84343-087-8
| isbn_note = (hardback edition)
| dewey= 823/.914 22
| congress= PR6057.A66 T49 2003
| oclc= 52622302
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Thursbitch is a novel by English writer Alan Garner, named after the valley in the Pennines of England where the action occurs (also listed in the 1841 OS map as "Thursbatch"). It was published in 2003.
Plot
Set both in the 18th century and the present day, the novel centres on the mystery of an inscription on an extant engraved wayside stone tablet about a death from exposure.
Major themes
The book features shamanic use of the fly agaric mushroom{{cite book |title=Shroom: A Cultural history of the magic mushroom |url=https://archive.org/details/shroom00letc |url-access=limited |last=Letcher |first=Andy |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/shroom00letc/page/n71 129]|publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |isbn=0-571-22770-8}} and a piece of Derbyshire Blue John as plot elements.
Literary significance and criticism
The book is seen by critics{{who|date=August 2017}} of Garner's work as a continuation of styles and structures first used in Red Shift (1973) and Strandloper (1996).