Review: White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick (July 2010, Orion Children's Books, ISBN: 9781842551875)

First Lines:

The earth quakes, the graves burst open, the dead arise and stream on in endless procession.

Review: The author's previous book, Revolver, was set in the frozen north of the Arctic Circle. White Crow is a chiller of a very different variety. It's set in a village modelled on the coastal Suffolk village of Dunwich which has been partly swallowed up by the sea over the last few centuries.

Rebecca and her father have fled from the city to the tiny village of Winterfold for the summer holidays. They do not have a very good relationship and there is much tension in the air which is explained more as the story progresses.

Rebecca is bored but soon meets a strange local girl of her own age, Ferelith. Ferelith is very clever and orphaned. The two girls spend time together more because there is no-one else for them to hang around with, than a desire for each other's company.

The story of their summer exploring Winterfold and its ruined churches and Hall, is told in the alternating viewpoints of Rebecca and Ferelith. In addition there are extracts from the eighteenth century diary of the vicar of Winterfold who tells of his collusion with a French doctor to solve one of the great mysteries of life.

White Crow is a gripping read but it does leave some unpleasant images in the mind. The two girls, though fairly unlikeable do feel real - Ferelith gave me the creeps. The way the story twisted and turned, filled me with tension, and the ending was quite unpredictable. White Crow is a dark, compulsive, if slightly gruesome in parts, read which was longlisted for the Guardian's Children's Prize 2010.

Review: Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick (audio book)

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick and read by Daniel Philpott (January 2010, Oakhill Publishing Limited, ISBN: 9781846488320)

First Line: Even the dead tell stories.

Review: Revolver is narrated by Sig Andersson who has been living with his sister, dad and step-mother in Giron (Kiruna) in northern Sweden where his dad works for the mining company in an office job. It is Winter 1910 and bitterly cold and the lake outside is frozen but Sig's dad Einar has inexplicably driven to their home across it even though he'd said never to do so as the ice is thinner in some places. By not following his own advice, he falls through a weak patch into the freezing water below. He manages to get back on to the ice but cannot save himself from hypothermia. It is Sig who finds his father's body and it's Sig who is left with the body when the women-folk go to the town for help. While Sig waits he receives a visitor who will change his life...

Interspersed with the 1910 chapters are chapters from 1899 when the family, at this point Sig's mum is still alive, are stranded in the Alaskan town of Nome. They have gone there to find gold, but there's none to be found and Einar and the family are lucky to survive.

And then there's the revolver, which is Einar's prized possession and which makes an appearance in all parts of the story.

Revolver is only three CDs long and yet there is so much packed in. There's not a wasted word and is extremely well plotted - with all that you've heard before, proving crucial to the final resolution. I could see this as a stage play, as much takes place in just one room, albeit a room with a thawing body in it. The Arctic setting is well conveyed and Sig is a likeable, resourceful character. This is a thought-provoking read which, unsurprisingly, was short-listed for the Carnegie Medal 2010.

Daniel Philpott's narration is very enjoyable too with distinct and appropriate voices for all the characters.

Publishing Deal - Marcus Sedgwick

From The Bookseller:

Orion Children's Books has acquired world rights for five young adults books by Marcus Sedgwick.

The title for the first book in the deal is still to be confirmed, but will be published in 2011.

Sedgwick has had a long standing relationship with Orion since his debut novel, The Floodland, in 2000. The new contract will run alongside a further contract with Orion Children’s Books for The Raven Mysteries series.

Read the whole announcement here.

Teenage Previews: July

Taken from the Bookseller magazine print edition, three books that will be published in July and that I'm looking forward to:

Michelle Lovric - The Undrowned Child
Orion Childrens
Synopsis - It's the beginning of the 20th century; the age of scientific progress. But for Venice the future looks bleak. A conference of scientists assembles to address the problems, among whose delegates are the parents of eleven-year-old Teodora. Within days of her arrival, she is subsumed into the secret life of Venice: a world in which salty-tongued mermaids run subversive printing presses, ghosts good and bad patrol the streets and librarians turn fluidly into cats. A battle against forces determined to destroy the city once and for all quickly ensues. Only Teo, the undrowned child who survived a tragic accident as a baby, can go 'between-the-linings' to subvert evil and restore order.


Sophie McKenzie - The Set Up
Book 1 of the Medusa Project
Simon & Schuster
Synopsis - Fourteen years ago, scientist William Fox implanted four babies with the Medusa gene - a gene for psychic abilities. But Fox died and the babies were hidden away for years. Now the children are teenagers - and unaware that their psychic powers are about to kick in. Cocky, charismatic Nico thinks his emerging telekinetic abilities will bring him money, power and the girl of his dreams. He's about to find out just how wrong he is...





Marcus Sedgwick - Revolver
Orion Childrens
Synopsis - 1910. A cabin north of the Arctic Circle. Fifteen-year-old Sig Andersson is alone. Alone, except for the corpse of his father, who died earlier that day after falling through a weak spot on the ice-covered lake. His sister, Anna, and step-mother, Nadya, have gone to the local town for help. Then comes a knock at the door. It's a man, the flash of a revolver's butt at his hip, and a mean glare in his eyes. Sig has never seen him before but Wolff claims to have unfinished business with his father. As Sig gradually learns the awful truth about Wolff's connection to his father, Sig finds his thoughts drawn to a certain box hidden on a shelf in the storeroom, in which lies his father's prized possession - a revolver. When Anna returns alone, and Wolff begins to close in, Sigs choice is pulled into sharp focus. Should he use the gun, or not?