Paperback, 147 pages
English language
Published July 14, 1985 by Virago.
Travel Light is the story of Halla, a girl born to a king but cast out onto the hills to die. She lives among bears; she lives among dragons. But the time of dragons is passing, and Odin All-Father offers Halla a choice: Will she stay dragonish and hoard wealth and possessions, or will she travel light?
From the dark ages to modern times, from the dragons of medieval forests to Constantinople, this is a fantastic and philosophical fairy-tale journey that will appeal to fans of Harry Potter, Diana Wynne Jones, and T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone.
Delightfully enchanting. On offer is an antidote to the jaded disillusionment of the way of things - the way things could be if one were to travel light.
Beyond the context of Mitchison being a friend/contemporary of Tolkien, this is a fascinating story that successfully subverts and questions a surprising amount of fantasy tropes and contains social commentary that remains topical and relevant to this day. "Ahead of its time" really doesn't even begin to cover it.
Like many I was driven to read it thanks to Amal El-Mohtar's NPR review and the book's mention in This Is How You Lose The Time War and don't regret it one bit.
