Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Stonor Eagles | 1982 | William Horwood | Buy |
| 2 | Callanish | 1984 | William Horwood | Buy |
| 3 | Skallagrigg | 1987 | William Horwood | Buy |
| 4 | Dark Hearts of Chicago / City of Dark Hearts | 2007 | William Horwood | Buy |
| 5 | The Coburg Conspiracy | 2008 | William Horwood | Buy |
William Horwood’s standalone novels show his range beyond animal fantasy. Skallagrigg (1987) is his most acclaimed standalone, a novel about disability, myth, and the power of storytelling that won the Children’s Book Award. His other standalones include The Stonor Eagles (1982), Callanish (1984), and later thrillers like Dark Hearts of Chicago (2007).
The Stonor Eagles and Callanish are nature-focused literary novels, closer in spirit to the Duncton Wood books. Skallagrigg is something else entirely, following a young woman with cerebral palsy who searches for a legendary figure known only through stories told by disabled people in institutions. It was adapted into a BBC television film in 1994.
Dark Hearts of Chicago (2007) and The Coburg Conspiracy (2008) mark a late shift in Horwood’s career toward thriller fiction. These books are quite different from his earlier work, trading rural landscapes for urban settings and genre plotting. The five standalones taken together show a writer who kept experimenting rather than repeating what had already worked.