White Crow

By Marcus Sedgwick

Rebecca Case travels to a little cottage with her father in the small hamlet called Winterfold to escape her life and past. At least, that’s all Winterfold is now- three streets- after the sea has been eating away at it for centuries. When Rebecca meets Ferelith, the strangely intelligent girl living in the Rectory, they strike an uneasy and at times shocking friendship in which both lonely souls seek refuge. Ferelith has become obsessed with the ‘afterlife’ and what awaits you after death. As she draws Rebecca further into her games they both get tangled up in the legend of Winterfold Hall. Neither girl could’ve guessed what awaited them.

At the same time as following Rebecca and Ferelith this strange but intriguing novel also charts a diary written by a priest in the eighteenth century. The priest meets a doctor and together they try and communicate with the afterlife. Seven people are subject to their experiments and the priest records all their successes and failures in the diary. He expresses his feelings and it seems that he believes the devil awaits him after death. It is easy to step into his shoes as Sedgwick has described with care all of his emotions.

Ferelith describes to Rebecca the legend of the priest and the doctor and they enjoy challenging each other to dares. What started off as a bit of fun gets out of hand but then the girls discover even more and they set off a chain of spooky events. Sedgwick described Winterfold and its’ remaining buildings well and made them seem like exactly what they were supposed be- a few derelict rooms slowly being consumed by the sea. I really quite enjoyed the descriptive passages, especially the third person ones as you could view the places perfectly in your mind.

The narration of the novel was split three-ways this time- firstly there was the priests’ diary, next there was also passages written by Ferelith in first person, and, finally there was the anonymous onlooker who narrated the majority of the story in third person. My favourite sections of narrative were Ferelith’s as you got to know a little about her past and feelings each time. However, despite this Rebecca was my favourite character as she was well written and created, yet she seemed rawer and less sure of herself than Ferelith and she didn’t know what to expect in her new life.

My only problem with this book was the subject and questions. The topics raised in this book about death were quite freaky and obsessive at times. They were very thought provoking and sometimes I didn’t know what to believe at all. I ended up getting a little confused as the novel progressed but I grasped the gist of the plot. The genre of this book was not one that I would usually read but I do not think that this book is your average gothic read- it’s better! The plot was interesting (even if my mind was reeling with questions) but it really annoyed me how the book ended so abruptly and didn’t answer all the questions but hinted to the answers.

Overall I enjoyed reading this novel and thought that the characters were very well constructed, especially Ferelith who was spooky and interesting at the same time! The narration was the only one I’ve read that was split into three parts and I thought that it was a really good point to the novel as it made the whole thing easier to visualise because you had so many points of view to look from. The plot was interesting but the subjects and questions raised throughout did not interest me that much and I ended up going in circles to decide which side I was supporting. In conclusion I thought that the book was good with a good array of characters and an interesting plot, but I found the questions mind boggling and sometimes didn’t know what was going on. I would recommend it to any of my friends!

By Eleanor,

Year 8