White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

'This is a superb contemporary gothic horror story, ostensibly for teenagers but with a lot to say to adults too. Beautifully written and irresistably dynamic, it explores themes of heredity, of good and evil, of the possibility of redemption and of the vital necessity of love, wherever it may be found.' THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

'Sedgwick is one of our most versatile children's writers - he can make young ones laugh and draw older readers into atmospheric, chilling dramas with equal skill. This may be his most ambitious book yet... It's a demanding read... explores religion, death, friendship, truth and love with an intensity that confident older readers will immerse themselves in.' Sally Morris DAILY MAIL


It's summer.

Rebecca is an unwilling visitor to Winterfold - taken from the buzz of London and her friends and what she thinks is the start of a promising romance.

Ferelith already lives in Winterfold - it's a place that doesn't like to let you go, and she knows it inside out - the beach, the crumbling cliff paths, the village streets, the woods, the deserted churches and ruined graveyards, year by year being swallowed by the sea.

Against her better judgement, Rebecca and Ferelith become friends, and during that long, hot, claustrophobic summer they discover more about each other and about Winterfold than either of them really want to, uncovering frightening secrets that would be best left long forgotten.

Interwoven with Rebecca and Ferelith's stories is that of the seventeenth century Rector and Dr Barrieux, master of Winterfold Hall, whose bizarre and bloody experiments into the after-life might make angels weep, and the devil crow.



About the Author

Marcus Sedgwick was born in 1968 in Kent, and has worked as a bookseller and inside children's publishing, becoming a writer for children in 1994, and well-known for the dark themes in his young adult fantasy books. He has illustrated some of his own books, and also produces woodcuts and stone carvings.

His first novel, Floodland (2000), winner of the 2000 Branford Boase Book Award, tells the tale of Zoe, who lives on her own on an island once part of England, and his second book, Witch Hill (2001), is about Jamie, a boy whose house is destroyed by fire. The Dark Horse (2002), borrows its tone from Norse myth, and Cowards (2003) is about two men who refuse to fight in the first World War. The Book of Dead Days (2003) and its sequel, Dark Flight Down (2004), tell of the search of Boy, Willow and Valerian, and their capture by Emperor Frederick.

My Swordhand is Singing (2006), was shortlisted for several book awards and was winner of the 2007 Booktrust Teenage Prize. Blood Red, Snow White (2007), was shortlisted for the 2007 Costa Children's Book Award.

His latest book is White Crow (2010), shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. He has also recently published several books in The Raven Mysteries series, featuring Edgar the Raven and the Otherhand family.

Click here to visit Marcus Sedgewick's own website...

Interview with Marcus Sedgwick: 'There is almost nothing you can't tackle in a teenage novel'

My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick

Winner of the Booktrust Teenage Prize

'A bloodthirsty tale which grips readers from the off.' WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY

'Marcus Sedgwick paints a chilling and irresistibly Gothic picture of the fight between good against evil. This book is tense, unnerving and well-structured - it scared me right to the end and I could not put it down.'  Anna Hickling, The Times

'He came to the gate of the graveyard. There could be no doubt. The wool ran over the fence next to the gate, as if his quarry had sailed clean over it. Dumbly, he gripped it, as if it were a lifeline, when in reality it was leading him towards death itself...' 

In the bitter cold of an unrelenting winter Tomas and his son, Peter, arrive in Chust and despite the inhospitability of the villagers settle there as woodcutters.

Tomas digs a channel of fast-flowing waters around their hut so they have their own little island kingdom. Peter doesn't understand why his father has done this, nor why his father carries a long battered box everywhere they go, and why he is forbidden to know its contents. But when a band of gypsies comes to the village Peter's drab existence is turned upside down.

He is infatuated by the beautiful gypsy princess, Sofia, intoxicated by their love of life and drawn into their deadly quest. For these travellers are Vampire Slayers and Chust is a dying community - where the dead come back to wreak revenge on the living.

Amidst the terrifying events that follow, Peter is stunned to see his father change from a disillusioned man to the warrior hero he once was.

Set in the remote and forbidding landscapes of the seventeenth century this is a heart-rending story of loss and redemption, and inspired by the original vampire folklore of Eastern Europe it represents a unique regeneration of a timeless myth.

Marcus Sedgwick is a successful children's author. When he was young he was told he wouldn't be able to make a living as an author, and that left an impression on him, so much so that he did maths and politics at university. But then he got a job in a children's bookshop, "fell in love with contemporary children's writing" and remembered his childhood aspirations to become a writer. He decided to give it a try.



About the Author

Since Floodland won the Brandford-Boase Award for the best first children's novel of 2000, Marcus Sedgwick's books have been shortlisted for many awards, including The Guardian Children's Fiction Award, The Blue Peter Book Award, the Carnegie Medal and the Edgar Allan Poe Award. About My Swordhand is Singing he says: "It was fascinating to discover the original folklore that gave birth to the vampire legend. No snowy graveyard is left unvisited, no corpse undisturbed, no spell unspoken, no date with destiny unmet. But it's not all gloom; there's misery and horror, too."

By day he works in children's publishing and by night is the drummer in a rock band in Brighton. He lives in Sussex with his wife Pippa, and has a daughter, Alice.

Click here to visit Marcus Sedgewick's own website...

Perfume by Patrick Süskind

‘The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of mouldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat . . .'

An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation when it was first released in 1987, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion - leads to murder.

Survivor, genius, perfumer, killer: this is Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.

In the slums of eighteenth-century Paris, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift - an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs.

But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood.

Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"- the scent of a beautiful young virgin. And to get it he must kill. And kill. And kill…

Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity suitale for older readers.

About the Author

Patrick Süskind was born near Munich, in 1949. He studied medieval and modern history at the University of Munich.

His first play, The Double Bass, was written in 1980 and became an international success. His first novel, Perfume, became an internationally acclaimed bestseller.

He is also the author of The Pigeon and Mr. Summer's Story, and a coauthor of the enormously successful German television series Kir Royal. Patrick Süskind lives and writes in Munich.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Winner of the Carnegie Medal in 2010, shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2010, winner of Best Novel at the Hugo Awards 2009 and of the prestigious Newbery Medal.

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, would be a completely normal boy if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts. For it is in the land of the living that real danger lurks, a danger that has already killed Bod's family.

The black and white illustrations, reminiscent of old-fashioned book plates, really add to the story, enabling the reader to visualise its weird and wonderful cast of characters. The portraits of Eliza, and the four Jacks are particularly memorable. The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Shortlist for 2010; Judges’ comments.

Find out more by clicking here...

About the Author

Neil Gaiman is the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of Coraline and Stardust, both of which are major motion films. He also writes screenplays for other people's films including Beowulf starring Anthony Hopkins and Angeline Jolie, as well as books for adults. He is the creator/writer of the award-winning Sandman comic series and has written several books for young children.Though British, he now lives in the USA where he travels extensively promoting his books.

Find out more about the author by going to his blog here...

BBC News Site - Neil Gaiman wins children's book prize