White Crow - Marcus Sedgwick

Rebecca’s dad has taken her to a small village to escape the media, the press, the attention for what he has done. Once a thriving town in medieval times, it has been devoured by the sea, and only a tiny triangle of buildings exist. But buildings are not all that the sea devoured. It devoured secrets. Deep dark secrets.

The book has a lot of basis on Heaven and Hell. Do they exist? What is it like? Is it wrong to know

“Supposing you wanted to prove something, something important. Supposing you wanted to prove, for arguments sake, that there is life after death… You might say that although you have not seen every crow in the whole world, ever crow that you have ever seen is black. Therefore, the chances are very great that all crows are black. In fact, you have decided for a fact that all crows are black. Now of course, if someone could show you a white crow, everything would be overturned in a moment.

But all crows are black.

And in the same way you conclude that no one lives after death. There is no ‘other side’. There is no white crow.

But, supposing I said I had seen a white crow? Just one. A single white crow.
What then?”

Narrated through the 1st person of Ferelith, a strange girl with a secretive, painful past who seeks the answer to those questions. Rebecca, whose sections are narrated in the 3rd person, does not. However, she is befriended by Ferelith anyway, and they follow a very different path to that taken by a priest and a French doctor, with the same question and the same destination – Winterfold Manor.

White crow is a superb book that had me hooked from very early on and it’s fast paced plot kept me entertained throughout. I found Ferelith to be a very interesting character, her intelligence mixed with her weird and slightly crazy self. She seems to be incredibly interested in finding the answers about Heaven and hell, almost haunted by it, but she is more subtle in displaying her interest.

Rebecca meanwhile, was very intriguing. Her relationship with her dad, trying to discover if she still loves him and if she can forgive him kept me reading, and the imperfection of her, her dad and all the other characters made them so believable.

Also, the quest of the priest and the Doctor was a haunting adventure, the time and effort afforded to the deed was great yet the priest shows his doubts and worries in his narrative, asking the lord whether he is correct and debating it with himself no end, however, his conclusion is always the same.

White crow is a superb book and I would recommend it every day of the week!

William

(Year 8)