White Crow

By Marcus Sedgwick

When city girl Rebecca leaves the bustling streets of London and swaps them with the deserted streets of winterfold her life literally turns upside down. Plagued by the media after a bad decision her father made, he has to leave London taking Rebecca with him. They buy a little house in winterfold. But when Rebecca meets Ferelith, things become completely different and they find themselves retracing the footsteps of a 18^th century doctor and a priest which show them the true horrors of life, death and the afterlife. Winterfold used to be a bustling city full of people but over the years the sea has devoured it and its dark history. All that’s left is a tiny triangle of streets. However who would have thought that a group of people living so close together would stare at each other as though they didn’t know each other; as though the people they were staring at were some form of demon from mars, their penetrating eyes seeing straight through you. But like the priest and the doctor they find themselves obsessed by the same question “Does god exist?” “If so is there an afterlife?” This question obsessed them all so much they risked their lives and the lives of others to find the answer.

I absolutely loved the book. It grips you from the first few words and the way Sedgwick developed the plot was absolutely amazing. There were so many things going on at the same time no part was boring. I love the way that Sedgwick has developed the characters and how he describes them so well that you can picture them in your head.

Another brilliant thing about the book is the way it repeatedly changes the perspective of the book: Ferelith’s part is done in first person, Rebecca’s is done in third and the priest’s is done in the form of a diary entry. Due to this it keeps you enthralled within the story line.

Although the style is quite gothic I still really enjoyed it and I thought it gave a completely new angle to your usual gothic based novel. I thought that maybe it could have explained the story a little better at some parts I had to read twice to understand. All in all its one of the best books I have ever read and I would recommend it to all other readers not just the ones doing Carnegie.

Review by Yasmin Year 7

Rating: **** 8/10