Chapter 1-3 Summary

In the first three chapters of "The Owl Service" by Alan Garner, we see a young English family staying in a Welsh cottage in a secluded valley in this hilly and mountainous country. Here Clive and Margaret have taken their respective stepchildren Roger and Alison on a summer holiday in an attempt to heal the rifts that have emerged due to their recent marriage. Whilst on holiday they employ Nancy the matron, cook and cleaner of the house who comes with her own boy Gwyn, and Huw Halfbacon, the groundsman.

In the very first chapter we find Gwyn, the child of the house maid Nancy, checking on Alison who is feeling ill after suffering a stomach ache. Alison jokes with Gwyn that she is fine and doesn't need any help, but that she has been hearing scratching in the roof above...