Prudence. He discovers that his father didn't die, as she had always told him; he was a dreamer, which Prudence hated, so after their mother died, she had him committed to an asylum. Angry, Phelim summons the ushtey, a water spirit, and tricks Prudence into riding it. It carries her away to the ocean, where she presumably drowns. As the story ends, Phelim and Aisling go to the asylum, where they find that his father is the gardener. Themes The book is set in 1919. The hatchlings of the book echo the horrors of war. McCaughrean uses various creatures from English, Irish, Manx, Orcadian, Scottish, and Slavic folklore and mythology, including the bean-nighe, bugganes, the Domovoy, merrows, the neck, the nuckelavee, the Stoor Worm, and ushteys. Background McCaughrean has said that in the process of writing The Stones Are Hatching: "I took it apart so many times, it was like that blouse you make in school that you hate the sight of. I thought it had done for me, that I’d never again enjoy writing". Reception Kirkus Reviews compared the book favourably with the "resounding menace" of William Mayne's Hob and the Goblins, but criticised the "distracting family subplot". In January 2000, children's author Linda Newbery chose The Stones Are Hatching for Books for Keeps magazine's regular "I Wish I'd Written..." feature, stating: "The writing is so marvellous that you can open the book at random and find a brilliant, memorable description". References 1999 British novels British fantasy novels British children's novels Oxford University Press books